1631  Stokes  (G.  T.)  D.D.     Ireland  and    the 
Anglo-Norman  Church,  cr.  8vo,  6s   1889 


IRELAND 

AND    THE    ANGLO-NORMAN    CHURCH. 


5jr  tint  same 


THE   ACTS    OF    THE    APOSTLES. 

Croivn  8vo,  cloth,  price  75.  fsd. 

A  volume  of  the  THIRD  SERIES  of  the  EXPOSITOR'S  BIBLE. 
Preparing, 


IRELAND  AND  THE  CELTIC  CHURCH. 

A  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND  FROM  ST.  PATRICK  TO  THE  ENGLISH 

CONQUEST  IN  1172. 

Second  Edition.  Crown  8vo,  cloth,  price  gs. 
"Any  one  who  can  make  the  dry  bones  of  ancient  Irish 
history  live  again  may  feel  sure  of  finding  an  audience 
sympathetic,  intelligent,  and  ever-growing.  Dr.  Stokes  has 
this  faculty  in  a  high  degree.  This  book  will  be  a  boon  to 
that  large  and  growing  number  of  persons  who  desire  to 
have  a  trustworthy  account  of  the  beginning  of  Irish  history, 
and  cannot  study  it  for  themselves  in  the  great  but  often  dull 
works  of  the  original  investigators.  It  collects  the  scattered 
and  often  apparently  insignificant  results  of  original  workers 
in  this  field,  interprets  them  for  us,  and  brings  them  into  rela- 
tion with  the  broader  and  better  known  facts  of  European 
history." —  IVestmiiistei'  Review. 


LONDON  :  HODDER  &  STOUGHTON,  27,  PATERNOSTER  Row. 


IRELAND 

AND  THE  ANGLO-NORMAN  CHURCH, 


0f  ^rclaiiir  imtr  $ri:>lr  Clmstumttjr  ftxmt  i\n  ^ngI0- 
.'it  t0  tfic    a: 


G.  T.    STOKES,    D.D., 


H  ODDER     A!sTI)     STOUGHTON, 

27,    PATERNOSTER   ROW. 

MUCCCLXXX1X. 


Printed  by  Hazell,  Watson,  <Sc  Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Ajlesbury 


PREFACE. 

THE  present  volume,  which  I  designate  Ireland 
and  the  Anglo-Norman  Church,  is  designed 
as  a  companion  volume  to  a  previous  one  which 
I  entitled  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church.  The  origin 
of  the  book  which  I  now  submit  to  the  public  was 
the  same  as  the  origin  of  the  previous  volume.  They 
both  embody  the  lectures,  for  the  most  part  identically, 
and  in  some  few  places  only  substantially,  the  same 
as  those  which  I  delivered  to  my  classes  in  Trinity 
College.  The  title  which  I  have  chosen  for  this 
volume,  Ireland  and  the  Anglo-Norman  Church, 
expresses  the  object  of  my  lectures,  which  was  to 
sketch  the  history  of  Ireland  as  well  as  of  Irish 
Christianity  till  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation.  A  very 
considerable  portion  of  this  volume  will  be  found, 
therefore,  to  deal  with  the  purely  secular  side  of  our 
annals,  the  story  of  the  Anglo-Norman  Conquest,  and 
of  the  anarchy  which  ruined  Ireland  as  the  natural 
consequence  of  the  strife  and  division  which  held  sway 
in  England.  I  have  treated  the  ecclesiastical  side 
of  my  subject  in  connection  with  the  Anglo-Norman 
Church  as  I  discussed  the  earlier  history  of  Ireland 
in  connection  \vith  the  Celtic  Church.  I  do  not, 
indeed,  believe  that  we  can  fix  any  hard  and  fast  limit 


vi  PREFACE. 

before  which  the  Celtic  Church  system  flourished, 
and  after  which  the  Anglo-Norman  and  Papal  system 
prevailed.  The  process  of  change  was  a  gradual  one. 
The  ecclesiastical  revolution  was  effected  by  slow 
degrees,  covering  in  its  operations  the  whole  of  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  I  have  endeavoured, 
also,  to  prove  in  my  concluding  chapter,  what  might  have 
been  expected  on  a  priori  grounds,  that  the  Celtic  Church 
system  did  not  expire  at  once,  but  left  its  marks  deep 
printed  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  more 
Celtic  portions  of  this  country.  Yet  I  consider  the 
Anglo-Norman  Church,  with  its  canon  law,  its  hier- 
archical and  monastic  organizations,  the  great  force 
which  shaped  the  religious  life  of  Ireland  during  the 
ages  which  elapsed  between  the  Anglo-Norman  Con- 
quest and  the  Reformation.  If  we  contrast  the 
Ireland  of  the  tenth  century,  as  pictured  in  the  Annals 
of  the  Four  Masters,  with  the  Ireland  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  as  depicted  in  the  Annals  of  Pembridge  and  of 
Friar  Clyn,  we  shall  require  no  further  proof  that 
Ireland  and  the  Irish  Church  were  Anglicised  in  the 
meantime.  Conge  d'clirc  and  Writ  of  restitution  of 
temporalities,  to  take  two  instances  alone,  were  terms 
never  found  in  the  Celtic  Church  ;  while  they  abound 
under  the  Anglo-Norman  system. 

The  original  shape  of  this  work  explains  two  points 
which  will  strike  the  critical  reader,  the  repetitions 
and  the  omissions  thereof.  In  the  course  of  my 
lectures  I  had  perpetually  to  refer  to  certain  documents, 
like  the  Liber  Xigcr  or  the  Repcrtorinin  }~iri>k  of 


PREFACE.  vii 

Archbishop  Alan,  which  can  only  be  consulted  in 
manuscript,  and  are  little  known.  I  explained,  with 
a  frequency  which  may  seem  tiresome,  what  these 
and  similar  documents  contain,  and  where  they  may 
be  found.  I  might  indeed  have  recast  the  whole 
shape  of  the  lectures,  and  thus  have  avoided  the 
repetitions,  but  second  thoughts  are  sometimes  in 
literature  by  no  means  the  best  thoughts.  When 
a  man  writes  with  a  young  audience  vividly  before 
his  mind,  the  salient  points  of  a  story  are  seized, 
the  mere  subsidiary  details  are  avoided,  and  the 
historical  picture  is  made  clear  because  the  canvas 
is  not  too  much  crowded  with  figures.  This  circum- 
stance is,  in  fact,  my  defence  against  one  line  of 
criticism  to  which  I  have  been  subjected.  My  volume 
on  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church  has  indeed  received, 
for  the  most  part,  a  very  kind  and  generous  treat- 
ment at  the  hands  of  reviewers.  But  some  critics 
have  found  fault  with  its  tone.  It  treated  Irish 
history,  in  their  opinion,  in  a  style  very  different 
from  the  great  masters  thereof  in  the  past,  and  dis- 
cussed it  in  a  very  flippant  spirit,  as  one  stern  censor 
put  it.  I  must  confess  that  I  have  suffered  such  critics 
and  such  criticism  very  gladly.  There  are  some  circles 
where  obscurity  is  mistaken  for  profound  thought,  and 
pedantic  dulness  for  surpassing  learning.  But  then,  if 
a  member  of  such  circles  tried  his  methods  upon 
a  young  university  audience,  his  lecture-room  would 
be  a  howling  wilderness,  and  himself  but  the  voice 
of  one  crying  therein.  I  am  paid  by  the  University 


viii  PREFACE. 

of  Dublin  to  teach  Ecclesiastical  History.  I  hold  that 
a  professor  is  just  like  a  preacher,- — he  should  be  a 
teacher  and  an  interpreter ;  and  if  students  avoid  the 
professor's  prelections,  or  a  congregation  flee  from 
the  preacher's  sermons,  as  if  his  words  carried  the 
plague  with  them,  then  whatever  else  professor  or 
preacher  may  be  fitted  for,  he  is  not  fitted  for  the 
office  he  has  assumed. 

I  did  not  submit  my  former  volume,  I  do  not  submit 
my  present  volume,  as  exhaustive  histories  of  the 
periods  with  which  they  deal,  but  I  do  submit  them  as 
attempts  to  redeem  Irish  history  from  its  traditional 
dulness,  and  to  show  that  it  is  not  the  pathless  waste 
which  some  regard  it.  In  doing  so  I  have  made  it  my 
object  to  interpret  to  young  and  eager  minds  the  results 
attained  by  the  great  investigators,  living  and  dead, 
whose  works  I  have  so  frequently  quoted,  and  have, 
therefore,  systematically  striven  to  make  my  narrative 
as  interesting  as  I  possibly  could,  a  task  at  times  by  no 
means  an  easy  one. 

The  origin  of  this  work  accounts  also  for  its  many 
omissions.  Everyone  desires  to  know  something 
about  the  Conquest  of  Ireland,  the  Wars  of  Bruce, 
the  Statute  of  Kilkenny,  and  Poynings'  Act.  I  have 
devoted  my  efforts  to  illustrate  these  and  other  leading 
features  of  my  period.  I  could  have  filled  lectures 
with  the  numberless  incidents  which  occupied  the 
intervals  of  Irish  history,  but  I  had  to  bring  my  book 
within  a  limit  marked  out  by  the  publishers,  and  have 
therefore  been  compelled  to  omit  even  much  which  I 


.    PREFACE.  ix 

delivered  to  my  class.  Another  cause  forced  me  in  the 
same  direction.  It  will  strike  the  reader  that  I  have 
treated  the  earlier  portion  of  my  period  much  more 
fully  than  the  latter,  and  necessarily  so.  A  vast 
quantity  of  new  light  has  been  shed  upon  Irish  as 
well  as  English  history  by  the  publications  of  the 
Record  Commissioners,  and  by  the  great  Rolls  Series. 
Every  lecture  almost,  embodied  in  this  volume,  owes 
something  to  the  Calendars  of  Irish  Documents,  edited 
by  Mr.  Sweetman.  These  calendars  deal  with  the 
thirteenth  century,  but  go  no  farther.  The  last  volume,, 
including  the  taxation  of  Pope  Nicholas,  comes  down 
to  the  year  1 307,  and  stops  there ;  and  now,  as  I 
understand,  the  publication  of  these  Irish  calendars 
has  been  completely  suspended,  while  the  English 
work  goes  on  as  before. 

Until  the  production  of  these  works  is  resumed,  we 
cannot  hope  for  any  fresh  light  upon  the  troubled 
epochs  of  Irish  history  covered  by  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries.1 

In   conclusion   I   have  to    acknowledge  my  renewed 


1  The  story  of  Anglo-Norman  dominion  in  Ireland  will 
never  be  fully  known  till  the  Rolls  Series  embody  the  docu- 
ments lying  in  MS.  in  Dublin,  viz.,  the  Liber  Niger  and  the 
Refiertoritim  Viride  of  Archbishop  Alan,  the  Crede  Mihi, 
the  Liber  Niger,  and  the  Liber  Albiis  of  Christ  Church.  A 
sum  of  ^"3,000,  I  suppose,  would  print  them  all,  yet  the 
English  Treasury  and  Record  authorities  have,  on  various 
petty  pleas,  withstood  on  this  point  the  unanimous  wish  of  the 
Irish  representatives  in  Parliament  of  every  type  of  politics. 
They  are  printing  at  present  a  volume  of  the  Thomas-Court 
Registers,  omitting  the  most  valuable  and  interesting  portion  ; 


x  PREFACE. 

obligations  to  the  many  original  investigators  into  the 
sources  of  Irish  history.  I  have  used  them  as  far 
as  I  have  known  them,  and  have  endeavoured  in  every 
case  to  acknowledge  my  debt.  If  I  have  ever  omitted 
to  do  so,  the  omission  has  been  due  to  a  lapse  of 
memory.  I  have  had  many  testimonies  as  to  the 
good  results  of  my  previous  volume  in  stirring  up  an 
interest  in  Ireland's  ancient  history.  I  can  only  hope 
that  the  present  work  may  be  as  fruitful,  and  tend  in 
some  small  degree  to  a  better  understanding  and  a 
more  kindly  feeling  among  the  various  races,  Norman, 
Saxon,  Scandinavian,  and  Celtic,  inhabiting  England, 
Ireland,  and  Scotland. 

GEORGE  T.  STOKES. 


ALL  SAINTS'  VICARAGE.  BLACKROCK. 
DUBLIN.  September  2nd,   1889. 


while  they  have  declined  Archbishop  Alan's  Liber  Niger  on 
the  extraordinary  plea  that  it  is  only  a  copy  of  original  docu- 
ments, and  not  the  original  documents  themselves.  Two 
reflections  naturally  suggest  themselves  in  connection  with 
such  an  objection.  First,  a  copy  of  original  documents,  no 
longer  existing,  made  in  1530,  ought  surely  to  be  original 
enough  for  these  times.  Secondly,  where  in  the  world  did 
the  Editors  of  the  Rolls  Series  get  the  originals  of  numberless 
documents  they  have  already  included  in  their  series  ? 


CONTENTS. 

LECTURE    I. 

LAST    YEARS    OF    IRELAND'S    INDEPENDENCE. 

PAGE 

Sources  of  Irish  history  during  this  period — Decay  of  the 
O'Briens— Rise  of  the  O'Neills— Of  the  O'Conors— 
Cruelty  of  the  princes — Misery  of  the  people — Treaty 
at  Athlone — State  of  Irish  politics  in  1150— And  civi- 
lisation— Tiernan  O'Rourke  and  Dermot  MacMurrough 
— Extent  of  Leinster — Danish  Kingdom  of  Dublin — • 
Dermot's  Library  and  the  Book  of  Leinster — Dermot 
and  Dervorgil  —  Dermot's  expulsion  and  escape  to 
England  .........  I — 23 

LECTURE   II. 

THE    HISTORIAN    OF    THE    CONQUEST. 

Giraldus  Cambrensis  and  the  Welsh  Church — Morice  Regan 
and  his  Poem— Anglo-Norman  MSS.  at  Dublin — Sweet- 
man's  Calendars — Giraldus,  his  birth — The  Fitz-Gerald 
family — Its  origin — Nesta  and  her  story — Education  of 
Giraldus — Archdeacon  of  Brecknock — Office  of  arch- 
deacons— "Can  an  archdeacon  be  saved?" — State  of 
Welsh  Church  in  the  twelfth  century — Comparison  with 
the  Celtic  Church  in  Ireland  and  Brittany — Marriage  of 
Welsh  clergy— Hereditary  benefices — Lay  and  fighting 
abbots  in  \Vales---Portionist  benefices — Archidiaconal 
visitations  in  Wales  in  twelfth  century — Giraldus  ex- 
communicates the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph — Election  to 
St.  David's  and  appeal  to  Rome — English  kings  and 
Welsh  Church — The  Cistercian; — Pope  Adrian's  Bull 
and  Henry  II 24 — 47 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  III. 

DERMOT'S  INTRIGUES  AND  FOREIGN  PREPARATIONS. 

PACK 

King  Dermot  MacMurrough  and  Bristol — Irish  priest  and 
preacher  in  Wales — Welsh  princes  in  Ireland — Story 
of  Earl  Harold  and  the  Dublin  princes — Rise  and  pro- 
gress of  the  Hardings  of  Bristol — Peerage  of  Berkeley 
— Robert  Harding,  Reeve  of  Bristol — Builds  St.  Augus- 
tine's— Befriends  King  Dermot — Introduces  him  to 
Henry  II. — Dermot's  treaties  \vith  Strongbow  and  the 
Fitz-Geralds — His  return  to  Ireland,  A.D.  1168 — Social 
life  in  Ireland,  A.D.  1170 — Arrival  of  the  Fitz-Geralds 
at  Bannou- 48 — 70 

LECTURE  IV. 

THE    INVASION    OF    THE    GERALDIXES. 

Authorities  for  the  Geraldine  invasion — Landing  at  Bannow 
— -Junction  with  Dermot's  forces — Attack  on  Wexford — 
Baronies  of  Forth  and  Bargy — Inhabitants  and  dialect 
— .Military  orations  among  the  ancient  Irish — Description 
and  extent  of  Ossory — The  Fitz-Patricks,  its  princes — 
Invasion  of  Ossory — Battle  of  Carrickshock — Of  Slieve 
Margy — Character  of  Dermot — His  treachery  towards 
his  Welsh  allies — His  letter  to  Strongbow  .  .  71 — 94. 

LECTURE   V. 

THE    INVASION    OF    STRONGIJOW. 

Strongbow,  his  history  and  family — His  expedition  to  Ireland 
— Sends  Raymond  le  Gros  in  advance — Battle  of  Bag 
and  Bun  promontory — Lepers  and  leprosy  in  Ireland — 
Norman  cruelty — Strongbow's  arrival  and  capture  of 
Waterford — Marriage  of  Eva — March  to  Dublin — The 
city's  size  and  appearance — Walls — Capture,  September 
1170 — Death  of  King  Dermot — Roderic  O'Conor  attacks 
the  capital — Battle  of  Finglas — Last  Danish  invasion — • 
The  Gillemoholmocks 95 — 120 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  VI. 

HENRY  II.  AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST. 

PAGE 

Henry  II. — Character  of  his  reign — Bishop  Stubbs  and 
Professor  Freeman  on — Jealous  of  Strongbow's  progress 
in  Ireland — Edict  against  aiding  him — Preparations  for 
Irish  invasion  — •  Henry  sails  to  Waterford  —  Wright's 
geographical  errors — Arrival  at  Dublin — Palace  and 
hospitality  there — Results  of  his  residence — On  princes 
— On  people — Irish  dysentery — Finglas  and  vindictive 
tempers  of  Irish  saints — Organization  of  the  Church — 
Synod  of  Cashel — And  of  the  law — Ranulf  de  Glanville 
— Statute  of  Henry  Fitz-Empress  .  .  .  121 — 149 

LECTURE  VII. 

NORMAN    ORGANIZATION    OK    IRELAND. 

Office  of  Lord-Lieutenant — Origin  of — First  occupants  of — 
Justiciary,  office  of — delation  to  Chief  Justice  of  King's 
Bench  —  Ireland  and  Egypt  —  Hugh  de  Lacy  —  Pala- 
tinates —  Durham  —  Chester  Parliament  and  Welsh 
Home  Rule — Hugh  de  Lacy's  career  in  Ireland — Mar- 
riage with  Rose  O'Conor — Want  of  continuous  Irish 
policy — Murder  of  De  Lacy— Strongbow  as  Justiciary 
— His  death  .  .......  150 — 175 

LECTURE  VIII. 

ST.    LAURENCE    O'TOOLE    AND    THE    CATHEDRAL    CHURCH    OF 
THE    HOLY    TRINITY. 

Anglo-Norman  and  Celtic  Church  in  Ireland — Synod  of  Kells 
— St.  Laurence  O'Toole — Birth — Education— Abbot  of 
Glendalough — Archbishop — Foundation  of  All  Saints' 
Priory — -Charter — Rcpcrtorlum  Viridc — Archbishop  Alan 
— St.  Laurence  and  the  Anglo-Normans — Attends  Late- 
ran  Council — And  royal  council  at  Windsor — Council  of 
Cashel — Royal  supremacy — Charter  of  Laurence  to 
Cathedral  of  Holy  Trinity — Earliest  clergy  list  of  Dublin 
—Christ  Church  in  twelfth  century  .  .  •  176 — 199 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  IX. 

JOHN    COMYN    AND    THE    ANGLO-NORMAN    ARCHBISHOPS    OF 
DUBLIN. 

PAGE 

English  Church  in  middle  ages — Royal  supremacy — Epis- 
copal laxity — Wimund,  Bishop  of  Man,  story  of— St. 
Laurence  last  Celtic  Archbishop  of  Dublin — Mediaeval 
prelates  all  English — Archbishop  Comyn — Early  life  as  a 
lawyer — Consecration  by  the  Pope — Bull  of  Lucius  III. 
to  See  of  Dublin — Controversy  between  Armagh  and 
Dublin — Comyn  as  a  courtier — Synod  of  Dublin,  rules 
of — Addition  of  Glendalough  to  Dublin — John  Comyn 
makes  St.  Patrick's  a  collegiate  church — Erects  St. 
Sepulchre's  Palace — Manor  and  liberty  thereof — Archi- 
episcopal  prebend  of  Cualaun  ....  200 — 226 

LECTURE  X. 

AN    EPISCOPAL    VICEROY    AND    THE    BEGINNING    OF    ANGLO- 
NORMAN    ANARCHY. 

Reign  of  King  John  and  ecclesiastical  troubles — Character 
of  his  reign — Failure  of  feudalism  in  Ireland — Grant  of 
Ulster  to  John  de  Courcy — Quarrels  with  the  family  of 
De  Lacy — Troubles  from  the  De  Burghs — History  of 
William  de  Burgh — Visit  of  King  John  in  1210 — John 
de  Gray,  Bishop  of  Norwich — As  Viceroy — And  Castle 
builder — Lough  Ree  and  Randon  Castle — Results  of  the 
Bishop's  rule  .......  227 — -250 

LECTURE  XI. 

ARCHBISHOP    HENRY    OF    LONDON    AND    ST.    PATRICK^ 
CATHEDRAL. 

Election  of  second  Anglo-Norman  Archbishop — Career  as 
an  archdeacon,  a  lawyer,  and  a  ]udge  —  Course  ot 
promotion — English  record  system — His  sporting  tastes 
—  Episcopal  hunting  —  Last  Bishop  of  Glendalough  — 
Scorch-Villein  —  Deanery  of  Penkridgc  —  Titles  of 


CONTENTS. 


Dublin  prelates — Lateran  Council — Synod  of  Dublin — 
Archbishop  Henry  makes  St.  Patrick's  a  cathedral 
—  Monastic  chapters  —  Secular  canons — Lambeth  and 
Canterbury — Christ  Church  and  St.  Patrick's  .  251 — 274 

LECTURE  XII. 

THE    WARS    OF    MEATH    AND    OF    KILDARE,    OR    THE    IRISH 
TROUBLES    OF    HENRY    III. 

Palatine  jurisdictions  in  Ireland — Quarrels  between  Anglo- 
Norman  nobles — Between  De  Lacy  of  Meath  and  De 
Courcy  of  Ulster — Arrest  of  De  Conrcy — Rebellion  of 
De  Lacy — -And  exile — War  of  Meath — William  Mar- 
shall junior — English  weakness — Siege  of  Trim — Cran- 
nogs  —  Intermarriage  of  Anglo-Norman,  Welsh,  and 
Celtic  princes — History  of  Marshall  family — Of  William 
Marshall  senior — Of  his  sons  William  and  Richard — 
Plot  against  Richard — Henry  III.  and  War  of  Kildare 
— Battle  of  the  Curragh — Death  of  Richard  Marshall, 
and  extinction  of  the  family  of  Eva  .  .  .  275 — 306 

LECTURE   XIII. 

TWO  CENTURIES  OF  ANARCHY. 

Limits  of  this  volume — Specimens  of  Celtic  and  Anglo- 
Norman  annals — Dismal  character  of  Irish  history  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries — Irish  anarchy 
and  English  wars — Henry  III.  and  English  supremacy 
— Ecclesiastical  taxation — Development  of  English  and  of 
Irish  parliaments — Sir  John  Wogan  as  Viceroy — Legisla- 
tion of  first  Irish  parliament — Committee  of  one — Useful 
modern  precedent 307 — 321 

LECTURE  XIV. 

THE  WARS  OF  BRUCE  AND  OF  THE  ROSES. 

Sir  John  Wogan  and  Edward  I. — Scotch  war — Irish  corre- 
spondence— And  promises — Invasion  of  Ireland  by 
Edward  Bruce — Complaint  of  Celtic  princes  to  Pope 
John  XXII. — Defeat  and  death  of  Bruce — Social  dis- 


CONTENTS. 


organization  of  Ireland — Irish  princes  and  Brehon  law 
— Land  question — Tanistry — Reign  of  Edward  III. — 
French  war  and  Ireland — Wickliffe — Franciscans  in  Ire- 
land—Primate Richard  Fitz-Ralph — Armagh  primates 
— Black  death  in  Ireland — Duke  of  Clarence  and  Statute 
of  Kilkenny — Wars  of  the  Roses — Butlers  and  Geraldines 
— Poynings'  Act  .......  322 — 342 

LECTURE  XV. 

THE    CELTIC    CHURCH    IN    ANGLO-NORMAN    TIMES. 

Division  of  Irish  Church — One  part  Celtic,  the  other  Anglo- 
Norman —  Church  dedications — St.  Nicholas  of  Myra — 
Columban  order  in  Ulster — Derry — lona — Fall  of  lona 
— Celtic  monasteries  in  the  West — Contrast  between 
Celtic  and  Anglo-Norman  monasteries — The  Celtic 
tonsure — Easter — The  Culdees — Bishop  Reeves  upon 
— Celtic  clergy  in  York  Cathedral  in  A.D.  936 — Culdees, 
hereditary  officials — Survival  at  Armagh  to  the  present 
time— Celtic  literature  in  middle  ages — Coarbs,  or 
Corbes,  and  Herenachs — Primate  Cotton's  Visitation— 
Marriage  of  an  Abbot  of  Derry — Hostile  Celtic  monas- 
teries— Episcopal  battle  at  Clonmacnois  in  1444 — The 
last  of  the  Irish  chiefs — The  "  Episcopal  Thirds  " — The 
family  of  MacFirbis — Survival  of  ancient  Celtic  scholastic 
system — Spirit  of  the  Anglo-Norman  Church — Contro- 
versies— Persecution — Earliest  Irish  heretics — Founda- 
tion of  Dublin  University — Hostility  of  Anglo-Norman 
Church  in  middle  ages  towards  Celtic  clergy — Decree  of 
Leo  X.  against  the  Celts — Utility  of  the  study  of  Irish 
Church  history  .......  343 — 380 


ERRATA. 


Page  1 16,  line  4  from  top,  for  "  Dermot "  rf.id  "  Strongbow. " 
152,  lines  8,  9  from  lop,  for  "Hugh  de  Courcy''  read  "John 


de  Courcy." 


LECTURE  I. 

IRELAND  AND   THE  LAST  YEARS  OF 
INDEPENDENCE. 

1  PROPOSE  to  give  in  this  course  of  lectures  a 
sketch  of  the  history  of  Ireland  and  Irish  Chris- 
tianity from  the  conquest  of  Ireland  by  the  Anglo- 
Normans  down  to  the  Reformation.  In  doing  so  I  shall 
pursue  the  same  course  as  I  adopted  in  my  previous 
volume  dealing  with  the  Celtic  Church,  and  instead  of 
treating  my  subject  in  the  strict  chronological  order,  I 
intend  to  select  great  personages  of  light  and  leading, 
or  great  central  epochs,  round  whom  I  shall  group  the 
onward  march  of  events. 

The  conquest  of  Ireland  by  Henry  II.  and  by 
Strongbow  is  such  a  great  epoch ;  much  talked  of, 
widely  celebrated,  but  almost  entirely  unknown.  It  will 
be  my  object  to  withdraw  that  event  from  the  region 
of  mythical  shadows  into  the  clear  light  of  historic  day, 
using  for  that  purpose  the  numerous  contemporaneous 
documents,  partly  printed,  partly  still  in  manuscript, 
which  our  libraries  possess.  In  order,  however,  to 
the  full  and  perfect  understanding  of  the  conquest, 
we  must  previously  realise  to  ourselves  the  state  of 
Ireland  during  the  last  years  of  her  national  inde- 
pendence. To  that  work  I  shall  devote  the  present 
chapter. 

— i  v 


2  IRELAND. 

Whence,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  do  we  gain  our 
information  concerning  the  events  of  that  period  ?  The 
reply  is  easy.  The  various  annalists — contemporaneous 
or  else  gaining  their  knowledge  from  contemporary 
documents,  the  Book  of  Lcinster,  the  Annals  of  Clon- 
macnois,  of  Lough  Ce,  of  Ulster,  and  of  the  Four  Masters, 
together  with  the  Chronicon  Scotonnn — furnish  abundant 
information  from  the  Celtic  side,  while  the  works  of 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  and  a  curious  Anglo-Norman  poem, 
the  substance  of  which  is  attributed  to  Morice  Regan, 
secretary  or  chief  domestic  to  Dermot  MacMurrough, 
will  supply  us  with  vivid  living  traditions  of  the  times 
irom  an  opposite  standpoint.1  Let  me  endeavour  to 
give  you  a  picture  of  the  social,  political,  and  ecclesi- 
astical life  of  Ireland  as  we  find  it  in  the  first  half  of 
the  twelfth  century. 


1  All  these  works  are  now,  or  will  shortly  be,  accessible  to  the 
general  reader  with  one  exception.  A  few  words  of  explana- 
tion may,  however,  be  useful.  The  Book  of  Leinster,  otherwise 
called  the  Book  of  Glendalough,  is  one  of  the  most  important 
Celtic  MSS.  in  existence.  It  "dates  from  the  twelfth  century. 
The  portion  which  now  remains  consists  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  loose  leaves  of  vellum  in  the  library  of  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  and  of  eleven  leaves  in  the  hands  of  the 
Franciscans  of  the  Irish  province.  See  Mr.  Gilbert's  National 
A1SS,  of  Ireland,  Nos.  liii — Iv.  A  transcript  of  it  in  folio, 
with  introduction,  analysis,  and  index  by  Professor  Atkinson, 
was  published  in  1880  by  the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  The  MS. 
probably  formed  a  part  of  King  Dermot  MacMurrough's 
library.  The  Annals  of  Cloninacnois  exist  only  in  an  English 
translation  made  in  the  year  1627,  three  MS.  copies  of  which 
have  come  down  to  us,  one  in  the  library  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  another  in  the  British  Museum,  and  a  third  in  Sir 
Thomas  Phillips'  library  ;  see  O' Curry's  Lectures  on  Irish  MS. 
Materials,  p.  130  (Dublin  :  1861).  The  Annals  of  Lough  Cc 
have  been  published  in  two  volumes  by  Mr.  Hennessy  in  the 
Rolls  Series.  They  are  described  by  Mr.  O'Curry  in  his 
Lectures,  eel.  1861,  p.  93.  They  were  the  annals  of  the  Mac- 
Dermot  clan,  and  were  composed  at  their  residence,  situated 
on  an  island  in  Rockingham  demesne,  the  seat  of  the  late 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAMJS  INDEPENDENCE.    3 

The  eleventh  century  commenced  with  the  battle  of 
Clontarf,  followed  and  marked  by  the  predominance 
of  the  O'Brians  in  Ireland,  a  family  which  finds  a  living 
representative  to  this  day  in  the  Barons  Inchiquin  of 
the  county  Clare.  The  eleventh  century  opened  with 
the  splendid  achievements  of  Brian  Boru  ;  the  century 
closed  with  the  decay  and  downfall  of  the  O'Brian 
family,  scarcely  one  of  whom  displayed  any  traces  of  the 
genius  manifested  in  their  great  ancestor.  So  passed 
the  eleventh  century.  The  twelfth  century  was  marked 
by  the  dominance  of  two  families  ;  on  the  one  hand,  by 
the  restoration  and  revival  of  the  O'Neills  of  the  north, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  sudden  rise  to  fame  and  fortune 
of  the  O'Conors  of  Con  naught,  dynasties  whose  bitter 
strife  and  restless  ambition  led  finally  to  the  Anglo- 
Norman  conquest.  To  the  development  of  this  story 
— a  very  tangled  and  a  very  bloody  skein,  by  the  way-  - 
we  must  now  bend  our  best  attention.  In  the  year 
1083  Donnall  O'Loughlin,  a  descendant  of  Niall  of 


Colonel  King-Harman,  M.P.  The  Annals  of  Ulster  are  now 
in  process  of  publication,  the  first  volume  having  appeared  in 
1 88/ under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Hennessyand  at  the  expense  of 
the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  They  were  composed  towards  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Mr.  Hennessy  considers  the 
Annals  of  Ulster  and  of  Lough  Ce  superior  in  honesty  and 
accuracy  to  those  of  the  Four  Masters.  O'Curry  describes  them 
at  length  in  his  fourth  Lecture.  The  Chronicoii'  Scotoruni  is 
an  ancient  volume  of  annals  composed  in  the  Abbey  of  Clonmac- 
nois  prior  to  the  Norman  invasion  of  1 172.  It  has  been  published 
in  the  Rolls  Series,  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Hennessy. 
The  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  form  a  compilation  out  of 
the  ancient  annals  known  in  their  time  by  Michael  O'Clery 
and  three  other  monks  of  the  Franciscan  monastery  of  Donegal. 
This  great  work  was  composed  between  the  years  1632  and 
1636.  It  was  printed  in  seven  volumes  under  the  direction  of 
Dr.  John  O'Donovan,  and  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Smith,  a 
Dublin  publisher,  in  1851.  The  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters 
are  fully  described  in  Mr.  O'Curry's  seventh  Lecture,  and  in 
Dr.  O'Donovan's  learned  preface. 


IRELAND. 


the  Nine  Hostages,1  and  an  ancestor  of  the  Ulster 
O'Neills  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  became  chieftain  of 
a  comparatively  insignificant  tribe  of  northern  Ireland. 
He  was  an  ambitious,  a  vigorous,  and  a  brave  ruler. 
He  reigned  for  forty  years  ;  and  long  reigns  had  one 
great  advantage  in  those  times  of  anarchy — they  were 
continuous  in  policy  and  in  design.  Donnall  O'Loughlin 
rapidly  developed  and  increased  his  power,  smote  down 
his  enemies  on  every  side,  and  by  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  happened  at  Derry  on  February  Qth,  1121,  he 
had  reigned  for  twenty-seven  years  as  supreme  king 
over  all  Ireland,  and  thirty-eight  years  over  his  own 
principality.  The  eulogy  of  the  Four  Masters  upon 
him,  as  recorded  under  that  date,  will  give  a  fair 
specimen  of  the  very  high-flown  language  in  use  among 
the  ancient  Irish  chroniclers,  since  he  is  there  described 
as  "  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Irish  for  personal 
form,  family,  sense,  prowess,  prosperity  and  happiness, 
and  for  bestowing  of  jewels  and  food  upon  the  mighty 
and  the  needy."'2  Twenty  years  afterwards,  or  there- 
abouts, another  king  of  the  same  family  arose  named 
Murtogh  O'Loughlin,  who  reigned,  from  1140  to  1166, 
with  a  vigour  which  gained  for  him  the  same  position 
as  supreme  king.  But  as  it  is  now,  so  was  it  then. 
Ulster  and  Con  naught  are  now  violently  opposed  to 


'  The  descendants  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages  (A.D.  400) 
divided  themselves  into  two  great  branches  ;  first  the  southern 
O'Neills,  represented  by  the  Kings  of  Meath,  the  Melaghlins  ; 
secondly  the  northern  O'Neills,  called  O'Loughlins.  Niall  of 
the  Nine  Hostages  is  in  the  female  line  still  represented  in 
the  peerage  by  Lord  O'Neill,  of  Shane  Castle,  count}'  Antrim 
(see  Keating's  Hist,  of  Ireland,  ed.  O'Mahony,  pp.  719,  723). 

-  The  same  kind  of  language  was  used  among  the  Welsh 
about  their  favourite  princes  and  warriors.  See  the  Welsh 
Chronicle,  A.D.  1137,  about  Gruffyth  ap  Rees,  Prince  of 
South  Wales. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE.  5 


each  other  as  regards  some  of  the  keenest  human 
interests ;  Ulster  and  Connaught  were  just  as  bitterly 
opposed  seven  hundred  years  ago. 

The  county  Roscommon  is  one  vast  plain,  noted  to 
the  present  day  as  the  richest  feeding-ground  for  oxen. 
The  county  is  devoid  of  mountains  save  on  its  eastern 
and  north-eastern  boundary,  where  the  Curlew  range 
affords  some  fine  scenery.  A  district  which  extends 
from  Roscommon  to  Elphin,  and  from  Strokestown  to 
Castlerea,  was  ruled  about  the  year  noo  by  a  family 
named  O'Conor,  many  representatives  of  whom  still 
exist  there  in  every  rank  of  life ;  the  direct  descendants 
indeed  of  these  chieftains  having  often  represented  the 
county,  and  being  widely  known  as  The  O'Conor  Don. 
Now  mark  the  progress  of  events.  In  1 106  the  O'Brians 
of  Clare  still  exercised  a  shadow  of  their  ancient  supre- 
macy ;  for  ancient  name,  and  fame,  and  allegiance  do 
not  easily  die  out  in  Ireland.  As  supreme  kings,  they 
made  Torlogh  O'Conor  ruler  of  the  Roscommon  princi- 
pality, which,  in  his  hands,  developed  into  a  kingdom, 
dominating  the  O'Brians  themselves,  his  ancient  patrons ; 
and  finally,  upon  the  death  of  Murtogh  O'Loughlin, 
attaining  supreme  authority  over  all  Ireland  under 
Roderic  O'Conor, — only  to  yield  it  up,  however,  five 
or  six  years  afterwards,  to  the  Normans  and  Henry  II. 
The  history  of  Ireland  from  I  too  to  1170  turns  round 
these  two  houses  and  their  struggles,  the  O'Loughlins  of 
Ulster,  the  northern  O'Neills,  descended  from  Niall  of 
the  Nine  Hostages,  representing  the  ancient  kings;  and 
the  O'Conors,  an  important  but  still  upstart  race  of 
usurpers  striving  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  hands  con- 
secrated by  time  and  the  nation's  reverence.  I  will 
not  weary  you  with  an  attempt  to  depict  the  varying 
fortunes  of  the  contest.  These  you  can  read  for  your- 


IRELAND. 


selves,  if  so  inclined,  in  the  monotonous  pages  of  the 
Four  Masters,  or  of  the  Annals  of  Ulster  or  of  Lough 
Cd.  The  O'Conors  on  the  one  side,  the  O'Loughlins 
on  the  other,  strove  to  attain  their  purposes  by  per- 
petual raids  and  plundering  forays  upon  their  neighbours 
round  about,  sweeping  away  their  cattle,  burning  their 
corn,  plundering  their  houses.  It  is  scarcely  possible 
to  imagine  how  any  kind  of  prosperity  could  have 
dawned  upon  this  unhappy  country  amid  the  scenes 
depicted  by  the  Four  Masters,  or  by  any  other  of  the 
numerous  annalists.  The  kings  themselves  lived  pretty 
secure.  O'Conor  at  Croghan,  in  Roscommon ;  the 
O'Brians  at  Cencora,  near  Killaloe ;  the  O'Loughlins  at 
Aileach,  near  Derry,  lived  safe  and  secure  behind  their 
entrenchments, — massive  earthworks  which  to  this  day 
excite  the  curiosity  of  the  traveller,  and,  down  to  Queen 
Elizabeth's  day,  gave  quite  sufficient  employment  to 
the  gunpowder  and  the  ordnance  of  a  more  advanced 
civilization.2  But  the  unfortunate  peasantry  must  have 
lived  in  daily  terror  of  their  lives,  and  in  a  state  of 


1  Sec  Hennessy's  edition  in  the  Rolls  Series. 

2  Fynes  Morison  thus  describes  one  of  these  forts  in    the 
county  Antrim,  still  used  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  : — 
"The  fort  of  Innisloughlan  is  seated  in  the  midst  of  a  peat 
bog,  and  is  no  way  accessible  but  through  thick  woods  very 
hardly   passable.     It   has   about   it   two   deep  ditches,    both 
compassed   with    strong   palisades,    a   very   high   and   thick 
rampart  of  earth  and  timber,  and  well  flanked  with  bulwarks  " 
{History  of  Ireland,  ii.  190).    See  also  an  extract  from  Petrie's 
unpublished  essay  on  the  military  architecture  of  Ireland,  in 
Petrie's  Life,  by  W.  Stokes,  M.D.,  p.  221.     The  crannogs,  or 
fortified  islands,   continued  in  use  among  the  Celts  from  the 
earliest  times  down  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.   See 
Irish  Arc hcco logical  Miscellany,   p.  233,  for  an  instance  of 
their  use  in  A.D.  1448 — 49.     The  English  used  the  same  kind 
of  fortifications  till  the  arrival  of  the  Normans.     See  G.   T. 
Clark's  Mediaeval  Military  Architecture,  vol.  i.,  ch.  ii.,  p. 30 
(London  :    1884).  where  the  following  description   is  given  of 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE    7 

insecurity  utterly  fatal  to  all  improvement.  Within 
these  entrenchments,  strengthened  by  formidable 
palisades  of  sharpened  piles  and  stakes,  the  kings 
maintained  a  certain  barbarous  extravagance.  Thus 
the  Annals  of  Ulster  tell  us  that  in  1107  Cencora,  the 
residence  of  the  O'Brians  at  Killaloe,  was  burned, 
when  there  was  consumed  "  seventy  tons  of  drink  called 
mead  and  of  old  ale."  l  But  their  mode  of  life  proved 
destructive  to  the  morals  of  the  kings  themselves. 
They  lost  all  sense  of  religion  and  its  obligations  amid 
their  ambitious  projects.  In  my  previous  lectures  on 
the  history  of  Ireland  from  St.  Patrick  to  the  Norman 
Conquest,  I  showed  how  a  knowledge  of  Byzantine 
art  and  literature  penetrated  to  this  country.-  With 
Byzantine  accomplishments,  however,  there  came  Byzan- 
tine vices  as  well.  Truth  and  mercy  disappeared  from 
Byzantine  morals.  Faithlessness  and  cruelty  marked 
each  successive  dynasty  which  held  the  throne  of  the 
Eastern  empire,  and  defiled  the  sacred  precincts  of  the 
Holy  Eastern  Church  itself.  So  it  was,  and  even  worse 
in  Ireland.  Cruelty  and  falsehood  were  peculiar  to  no 
race  of  princes,  but  displayed  themselves  equally  in  the 

Anglo-Saxon  fortified  residences  of  earth  and  timber: — "  In 
viewing  one  of  these  moated  mounds  we  have  only  to  imagine 
a  central  timber  house  on  the  top  of  the  mound,  built  of  half 
trunks  of  trees,  set  upright  between  two  waling  pieces  at  the 
top  and  bottom,  like  the  old  church  at  Green sted,  with  a  close 
paling  around  it,  along  the  edge  of  the  table  top,  perhaps  a 
second  line  at  its  base,  and  a  third  along  the  outer  edge  of  the 
ditch,  and  others  not  so  strong  upon  the  edges  of  the  outer 
courts,  with  bridges  of  planks  across  the  ditches  and  huts 
of  '  wattle  and  dab/  or  of  timber,  within  the  enclosures,  and  we 
shall  have  a  very  fair  idea  of  a  fortified  dwelling  of  a  thane  or 
franklin  in  England  from  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  down 
to  the  date  of  the  Norman  conquest." 

1  Cf.  Aunals  of  Lough  Cc,  ed.  Hennessy,  in  Rolls  Series, 
vol.  i.,  p.  97. 

-  See  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  chaps,  ix.,  xi.,  xii. 


8  IRELAND. 

O'Loughlins,  the  O'Conors,  and  the  O'Brians,  as  well 
as  in  the  inferior  chiefs,  who  showed  themselves  apt 
pupils  of  their  betters.  Let  us  take  a  few  specimens 
which  will  illustrate  more  vividly  than  any  description 
of  mine  the  social  life  of  Ireland  during  the  last  years  of 
independence.  The  light  they  cast  is  a  very  lurid  one 
indeed.  Thus,  to  take  the  charge  of  cruelty  first. 
Blinding,  quite  after  the  Byzantine  fashion,  was  the 
ordinary  fate  reserved  for  dangerous  captives,  yea,  and 
even  for  the  members  of  the  princely  families  who  became 
obnoxious  to  the  reigning  sovereigns.  The  Empress 
Irene,  about  the  year  800,  blinded  her  own  son  when 
he  threatened  to  become  dangerous  to  her  supreme 
power.  King  Torlogh  O'Conor  in  1136  blinded  his 
own  son  Hugh  when  he  was  becoming  dangerous. 
Five  years  later  we  read  that  Dermot  MacMurrough,  of 
whom  we  shall  have  much  more  anon,  blinded  Murtogh 
MacGillamacholmog,  chief  of  Fercullen,  a  district  near 
our  own  city  of  Dublin,  together  with  twenty  of  his 
chief  men.1  While,  again,  in  1 1 53  we  hear  of  Melaghlin 
or  Molloy,  King  of  Meath,  binding  his  cousin  Conor 
Melaghlin,  and  of  Dermot  MacMurrough,  ever  the 


1  The  clan  MacGilmoholmock  inhabited  the  country  through 
which  the  Dodder  flows  (see  O'Donovan's  note,  Ann.  Four 
Masters,  A.D.  1044).  In  ancient  Dublin  there  was  a  street 
called  after  their  name  (see  Gilbert's  History  of  Dublin ,'t.  i., 
p.  233).  The  princes  and  chiefs  of  this  family  often  appear  in 
An.<,rlo-Xorman  documents  (see  Gilbert's  Chartularies  of  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  Rolls  Series,  preface,  p.  xxiv;  Ann.  Four 
Masters,  A.D.  1044,  O'Donovan's  edition.  The  Rotiili  Char- 
tarn»i(Q&.  T.  1).  Hardy,  1837,  p.  173}  jjives  the  details  of  their 
property  as  it  existed  in  the  days  of  Henry  II.  They  had 
fifteen  carucates  of  land  in  the  valley  of  Dublin,  and  some 
houses  in  the  city  itself.  A  charter  of  Luke,  Archbishop  of 
Dublin  A.]).  1 2-| i,  printed  in  the  Chartcc,  Privilegia,  p.  24, 
published  by  the  Irish  Record  Office,  shows  that  the  clan  had 
property  near  the  town  of  Rathcoole,  in  the  county  Dublin. 


THE  LAST  YEAKS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE.  9 


prince  of  evil-doers  and  of  cruelty,  blinding  O'More, 
prince  of  Leix,  in  the  Queen's  County,  and  then  with 
savage  irony  releasing  the  wretched  man  from  the 
fetters  in  which  he  was  bound.  Scarcely  a  princely 
house  throughout  Ireland  was  there  where  some  blind 
warrior  lived  not,  occupying  the  corner  of  the  hearth, 
and  helping  by  the  tale  of  his  own  wrongs  and  the 
speaking  evidence  of  his  sightless  and  mangled  eye- 
balls to  deepen  that  tribal  hatred  which  was  fast  ruining 
Ireland.  Permit  me  here  to  give  you  a  word  of  warn- 
ing. As  a  historian  I  must  strive  to  be  impartial. 
Specially  as  a  historian  of  the  Church,  I  am  pledged 
to  be  fair  and  truth-telling.  In  this  chair  I  know  no 
politics,  and  hope  to  pander  to  no  prejudices.  Here, 
therefore,  I  am  bound  to  tell  you  that  cruelty  of  this 
wanton  and  hopeless  kind  was  not  limited  to  Ireland. 
It  found  a  place  among  the  more  cultured  and  civilized 
Normans  as  well  ;  and  Mr.  Freeman's  pages  or  the 
Chronicle  of  North  Wales  will  show  how  Henry  II. 
treated  his  Welsh  hostages  in  just  the  same  fashion, 
rooting  out  their  eyes,  and  parading  them  thus  tortured 
round  the  walls  of  Caerleon  when  the  brave  townsmen 
refused  to  surrender  at  his  summons.  While  again  we 
learn  that  the  Scotch  Celts  were  possessed  by  the  same 
bloodthirsty  spirit,  as  we  are  told  by  the  Annals  of 
Clonmacnois,  under  date  of  1098,  that  Donnell  Mac- 
Donnogh,  King  of  Scotland,  was  blinded  in  both  his 
eyes  by  his  own  brother.1 

Cruelty  was  not  the  only  princely  vice  then  preva- 
lent. Treachery  was  closely  allied  with  it.  Let  me 
give  art  illustration.  In  1140  the  ancient  town  of 
Athlone  was  just  as  important  a  military  post  as  it 


1  Cf.  Ann.  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan,  A.D.  iioo. 


IRELAND. 


is  to-day.  The  ancient  Castle,  still  guarded  jealously 
and  fortified  in  modern  fashion ;  the  frowning  batteries 
with  guns  all  looking  towards  Connaught,  speak  clearly 
of  the  invasions  expected  from  that  quarter.  Seven 
hundred  years  ago  a  Celtic  dun  of  earth  rose  on  the 
very  same  spot  where  now  stands  the  Castle  raised 
on  the  ancient  site  by  King  John's  ecclesiastico-warrior 
architect  John,  Bishop  of  Norwich.1  The  Castle  of 
Athlone  has  ever  guarded  the  pass  of  the  Shannon, 
and  has  seen  many  a  hard  fight  for  its  possession, 
down  to  the  last  great  struggle  when  De  Ginkle  de- 
feated St.  Ruth  and  destroyed  the  hopes  of  the  Stuarts. 
In  the  earl}'  twelfth  century  it  was  just  the  same  save 
that  the  attacks  on  the  Celtic  dun  were  infinitely  more 
numerous,  while  the  bridge  which  then  connected  the 
opposite  shores  of  Meath  and  Connaught  was  a  much 
more  fragile  structure  than  the  long  narrow  rambling 
Elizabethan  structure  on  which  the  famous  struggle 
of  July  1691  took  place."  To  Athlone  in  1140  resorted 
Torlogh  O'Conor,  King  of  Connaught,  to  meet 
Melaghlin,  King  of  Meath,  whose  kingdom  bordered 
his  own.  O'Conor  was  in  a  penitent  mood,  it  may  have 
been  ;  though  the  penitence  and  the  religion  were  but 
short-lived.  Gelasius,  Primate  of  Armagh,  had  just  made 


1  Athlone  Castle,  in  Celtic  times,  was  called  the  Bo-dun 
or  Cow-Castle,  or  fort  of  the  O'Conors.  Bo-dun  is  the  origin 
of  the  word  bawn,  which  so  often  occurs  in  ancient  Irish  grants 
of  property.  A  bawn  was  a  fortified  yard  where  cattle  were 
secured.  See  Mr.  Hennessy's  edition  of  the  Annals  of 
Long/I  Cc,  p.  207,  cf.  p.  245. 

-  This  ancient  and  historic  bridge  was  onhy  removed  forty  - 
five  years  ago.  Some  Elizabethan  monuments  which  stood 
upon  it  are  now  preserved  in  the  cellars  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy.  See  two  interesting  pamphlets  by  the  late  Rev. 
J.  S.  Joly,  Rector  of  Athlone,  entitled  T/ic  Bridge  of  Athlone 
and  Our  Church  Bell. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE.    II 


his  first  visitation  of  Connaught,  and  succeeded  at  last 
in  establishing  the  primatial  jurisdiction  of  Armagh, 
hitherto  jealously  rejected,  as  involving  the  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  of  what  to  Connaught  men  was  a  foreign 
city  and  kingdom.  Roman  influence  and  ideas  were 
steadily  though  slowly  triumphing  over  ancient  Celtic 
jealousies.  "  The  churches  of  Connaught,"  we  are 
told  by  the  Four  Masters,  "  were  adjusted  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  Gelasius  by  Torlogh  O'Conor  and 
the  chieftains  of  Connaught ;  and  Patrick's  successor 
and  his  clergy  left  a  blessing  on  the  king  and  his 
chieftains." 

Under  the  influence  of  the  mission  thus  held  by  the 
Primate  himself,  O'Conor  invited  Murrough  Melaghlin 
of  Meath  to  a  conference  at  Athlone,  which  was  duly 
held.  The  high  contracting  parties  took  mutual  oaths, 
made  mutual  armistices,  the  bridge  of  Athlone  was 
broken  down  (in  token  of  peace,  because  only  used  for 
war),  and  they  parted  in  apparent  love  and  friendship. 
But  the  old  Adam  was  too  strong  in  O'Conor.  The 
King  of  Meath  doubtless  withdrew  his  troops  and 
tribesmen,  trusting  to  the  lately  sworn  oaths,  and  the 
flocks  of  Meath  were  grazing  in  peace.  But  then 
we  read  as  the  very  next  entry  by  the  Four  Masters  : 
"  Another  wicker  bridge  was  made  by  Torlogh  across 
Athlone,  and  he  devastated  the  west  of  Meath."  So 
little  binding  force  had  oaths  for  him !  The  same 
Torlogh  O'Conor  three  years  later  seized  his  own 
son,  Rory  O'Conor,  and  kept  him  a  prisoner  after 
he  had  solemnly  sworn  to  keep  the  peace  towards 
him,  and  the  same  year  he  captured  the  person  and 
lands  of  Murrough,  King  of  Meath,  though  the  Primate 
of  Armagh  himself  and  the  most  venerated  relics  of 
Ireland,  the  staff  of  Jesus,  the  altar  and  shrine  of 


12  IRELAND. 

St.  Kieran  of  Clonmacnois,  the  bells  '  of  St.  Fechin 
and  of  St.  Kevin  of  Glendalough,  had  been  solemnly 
invoked  as  witnesses  and  guarantees  that  peace  should 
be  preserved  between  Connaught  and  Meath.  No 
oaths  could  bind  O'Conor,  and  yet  so  little  were  this 
falsehood  and  cruelty  regarded  as  blemishes,  that  when 
he  died  the  annalists  exhausted  all  the  resources  of 
their  high-flown  language  in  celebrating  his  panegyric. 
Thus  they  call  this  faithless,  perjured,  bloody  tyrant 
"  the  flood  of  the  glory  and  splendour  of  Ireland, 
the  Augustus  of  the  West  of  Europe,  a  man  full  of 
charity  and  mercy,  hospitality  and  chivalry."  Public 
opinion  must  have  been  in  a  low  estate  indeed  when 
the  religious  teachers  of  the  time — for  they  alone 
were  the  writers  of  history — could  use  such  language 
about  such  a  man.  And  yet  he  was  not  one  whit 
worse  than  his  neighbours.  He  merely  acted  towards 
the  Melaghlins  of  Meath  or  the  O'Neills  of  the  north 
as  they  acted  towards  him. 

It  was  a  sad  time,  when  every  man's  hand  was 
against  his  neighbour,  and  when  for  the  poor  peaceable, 
industrious  man  there  was  neither  light  nor  hope 
nor  security. 

To  enable  you  to  grasp  the  course  of  events  which 
led  up  to  the  English  conquest,  you  must  understand 
the  state  of  Irish  politics  about  1150.  The  northern 
O'Neills,  princes  of  Tyrone,  were  the  nominal  kings  of 
Ireland.  O'Conor  was  seeking,  but  in  vain,  to  deprive 
them  of  that  very  precarious  and  shadowy  dignity. 
The  kingdom  of  Meath  and  Tara — anciently  and  by 
right  the  supreme  monarchy — was  a  kind  of  debatable 


1  About  sacred  bells  and  their  profanation,  see  O'Donovan's 
note  on  Ann.  Four  Alastcrs ,  A.D.  1044. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE,    13 

land  between  the  two  rivals.  Just  as  Alsace  and 
Lorraine  and  the  Rhenish  provinces  have  been  in  the 
past,  and  are  destined  still  to  be  in  the  future,  the  battle- 
field between  France  and  Germany,  so  Meath  was  at 
this  time  the  perpetual  battle-field  between  the  kings  of 
the  north  and  of  the  west.  Two  individuals  come  now 
upon  the  scene  whose  deeds  and  quarrels  contributed 
even  more  than  those  of  the  supreme  kings  to  the  making 
of  Irish  history.1  Tiernan  O'Rourke  was  Prince  of 
Breifny,  a  district — to  use  modern  phraseology — cover- 
ing the  counties  of  Leitrim  and  Cavan ;  or  perhaps,  to 
put  it  more  exactly  still,  the  dioceses  of  Kilmore  and 
Ardagh,  for  the  diocesan  jurisdictions  coincide  more 


1  People  sometimes  think  of  these  Irish  princes,  the  Mac- 
Murroughs,  O'Brians,  O'Conors,  and  their  fellows,  as  if  they 
were  simple  savages,  with  no  better  culture  or  education  than 
Red  Indian  chiefs.  They  were  very  cruel  and  very  savage 
according  to  our  ideas,  but  not  more  so  than  the  English  kings 
and  nobles  or  the  Welsh  princes  of  their  time.  Dermot  Mac- 
Murrough  issued  charters  in  regular  form,  and  in  the  Latin 
language.  In  Mr.  Gilbert's  Facsimiles  of  National  MSS. 
there  will  be  found  a  charter  issued  by  Dermot  MacMurrough 
for  the  foundation  of  a  Benedictine  monastery  at  Duisk,  now 
Graigenemanagh,  in  the  county  Kilkenny.  In  the  same  valu- 
able publication  there  is  contained  the  foundation  charter  of 
Holy  Cross  Abbey,  issued  by  King  Donnall  O'Brian,  of  North 
Alunster,  in  1168.  In  fact  the  Irish  annalists  present  the 
blackest  side  of  their  country's  story  ;  because,  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  their  times,  they  thought  nothing  worth  telling  unless 
it  dealt  somehow  with  fighting,  plunder,  or  murder.  A  series 
of  Newgate  Calendars  would  not  give  the  truest  picture  of 
English  life  in  the  last  century.  We  get  scarcely  a  glimpse 
of  social  organisation  or  of  material  improvement  from  any 
of  these  sources.  Yet  there  must  have  been  skill,  taste,  and 
wealth  when  structures  like  Mellifont,  Holy  Cross,  Cong  Abbey, 
Cormac's  Chapel  at  Cashel,  and  the  Nun's  Church  with  its 
exquisite  carvings  and  mouldings  at  Clonmacnois,  could  be 
erected  by  Irish  princes  and  ecclesiastics  prior  to  the  arrival 
of  the  Normans.  These  Irish  princes  erected  castles  after  the 
model  of  the  Anglo-Normans,  as  at  Tuam,  where  Roderic. 
O'Connor  built  a  castle  with  strong  central  keep,  courtyard 


14  IRELAND. 

accurately  than  any  other  with  the  ancient  tribal 
divisions  of  this  country.1  Dermot  MacMurrough  was 
Prince  of  Lagenia,  or  Leinster,  a  district  embracing  the 
modern  Leinster  less  by  the  diocese  of  Meath  on  the 
north,  which  comprehends  the  ancient  kingdom  of 
Meath  and  the  diocese  of  Ossory  proper  on  the  west, 
which  corresponds  to  the  kingdom  of  Ossory.2  It  is 
important  that  you  should  understand  these  local  dis- 
tinctions if  you  wish  to  follow  aright  the  course  of 
political  development.  Leinster  and  Dermot's  kingdom, 
roughly  speaking,  embraced  the  country  from  Dublin 
and  Naas  on  the  north,  to  Wexford  and  Waterford  on 
the  south,  touching  in  both  directions  on  the  bounds 
of  Danish  dominion.  This  Danish  power,  indeed,  is  a 

fortified  with  outlying  towers  connected  by  curtain  walls  and 
protected  by  a  deep  fosse.  See  for  a  description  of  it  a  paper 
by  Petrie  in  the  Dublin  Penny  Journal,  vol.  i.,  pp.  99 — 147  ; 
Petrie's  Life,  by  W.  Stokes,  M.D.,p.  212  (cf.  p.  282),  for  a  disqui- 
sition on  the  excellence  of  the  goldsmith's  art  at  the  court 
of  King  Torlogh  O'Conor,  at  Roscornmon,  in  the  year  1123. 
The  charters  and  other  legal  documents  contained  in  the  Book 
of  Kells  (see  Irish  Archceological  Miscellany,  pp.  137-49) 
prove  the  presence.of  the  goldsmith's  art,  for  instance,  at  Kells, 
together  with  the  existence  and  legal  transfer  of  individual 
property  in  that  town  about  the  year  uoo.  They  show,  too, 
that  rent  was  paid  in  Ireland  about  the  year  A. I).  1000  Kells, 
it  may  noted,  is  one  of  the  few  places  in  the  United  Kingdom 
where  traces  of  the  old  communal  system  of  land-holding 
still  survive.  See  Seebohm's  English  Village  Community, 
p.  227  (London  :  1883). 

1  Reeves'  Diocese  of  Dub! in  and  GlendalougJi ;  Graves  on 
the  tribes  of  ancient  Ossory  in  the  Kilk.  Archaeological 
"Journal;  Three  Fragments  of  Irish  Annals,  ed.  T. 
O'Donovan,  LL.l).  (Irish  Arch.'  Soc.),  pp.  8,  86;  Irish 
Archtcological  Aliscellany,  p.  289. 

-  The  kingdom  of  Leinster,  broadly  speaking,  covered  the 
south-eastern  part  of  Ireland,  from  Dublin  and  the  line  of  the 
Liffey  and  Barrow  to  Wexford  and  the  Irish  Sea.  Its  princes 
resided  sometimes  at  Naas,  or  at  the  Hill  of  Allen,  near  Kildare, 
and  in  the  twelfth  century  at  Ferns,  near  which  rises  Mount 
Leinster,  one  of  the  finest  mountains  in  Ireland. 


THE  LAST    YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE.    15 


most  important  fact,  and  has  a  special  bearing  on  the 
course  of  our  narrative;  upon  it,  therefore,  I  must  bestow 
a  brief  notice  before  I  describe  the  quarrels  ofO'Rourke 
and  of  MacMurrough,  which  led  up  to  the  Conquest,  in 
which  the  Danish  population  played  no  small  part.  The 
history  of  the  Danes  in  Ireland  has  suffered  under  a 
grievous  misapprehension.  The  Danes,  as  1  explained 
in  a  previous  course  of  lectures,  were  defeated  by 
Brian  Boru  at  Clontarf,  but  were  not  expelled  from 
Ireland.  Their  supremacy  was,  deestroyed,  but  not  their 
existence.  Christianity,  too,  came  to  the  relief  of  the 
Celtic  Irish,  and  the  conversion  of  the  Danes  rendered 
them  more  peaceable  neighbours  than  they  had  pre- 
viously been.  Still,  they  did  not  sink  into  and  coalesce 
with  the  mass  of  the  Celtic  population.  Independent 
communities  of  Danes  existed  all  round  Ireland,  and 
along  the  eastern  coast  of  Scotland.  The  Scottish  isles 
were  ruled  by  Danish  earls,  whose  fleets  were  ever  ready 
to  succour  their  Irish  brethren,1  or  ally  themselves  for 
pay  with  the  O'Neills  of  Ulster.  Larne,  Carlingford, 
Dublin,  Wexford,  Waterford,  and  Limerick  were  free 
Danish  settlements  during  the  twelfth  century.  Dublin 
was  ruled  by  a  family  named  Turkil,-  or  MacTurkil,  which 
continued  to  occupy  a  high  position  both  in  Church 
and  State  during  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Danes, 

1  Cf.  Annals  of  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1142.  In  the  years 
1101,  1102,  Magnus,  King  of  Denmark,  invaded  Ireland  with 
the  help  of  the  Manxmen,  and  fought  a  battle  near  Dublin. 
On  that  occasion  the  daughter  of  O'Brien,  King  of  Munster, 
married  the  son  of  Magnus. 

-  See  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1146,  where  MacTurkil  is  described 
as  chief  steward,  or  mayor,  of  1  )ublin.  Gilbert's  Chartularies  of 
St. Mary' ' s  Abbey,  in  Rolls  Series,  t.  L,  p.  83,  gives  much  infor- 
mation about  this  distinguished  Danish  family.  Henry  II. 
gave  a  portion  of  their  estates  to  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin. 
The  family  and  name  were  known  in  England  too  (see  Free- 
man's Appendix,  Norman  Conquest,  iv.,  780,  on  the  Turkih 


1 6  IRELAND. 

too,  like  the  Anglo-Normans  of  later  times,  imbibed 
the  same  love  for  civil  broils  which  marked  the  Celts  of 
the  period.  The  Danes  of  Dublin  warred,  for  instance, 
upon  the  Danes  of  Waterford  in  1137,  and  again  in 
1 140  (cf.  Four  Masters),  and  defeated  their  countrymen, 
— a  most  dangerous  kind  of  victory  for  themselves.  The 
Irish  chieftains  were  doubtless  very  glad  to  see  such 
powerful  and  warlike  neighbours  destroying  each  other, 
specially  when  the  Dublin  Danes  could  muster  two 
hundred  ships. 

Such  was  the  position  of  Danish  affairs.  Let  us 
now  return  to  MacMurrough  and  O'Rourke  and  the 
native  Irish.  MacMurrough,  King  of  Lein-ster,  was 
a  thorough  villain.  Providence  sometimes  works  with 
very  vile  instruments,  but  never  with  a  viler  instru- 
ment than  Dermot,  King  of  Leinster,  was.  Yet  with  all 
his  violence  he  was  an  energetic  and  an  able  man. 
Dermot's  personal  appearance  is  described  by  Giraldus 
(see  Ann.  Four  Masters,  A.D.  11/2).  His  name  indeed 
is,  for  most  of  us,  but  a  shadow,  and  his  personality 
has  long  since  faded  into  that  land  of  myth  and  fable 
which  is,  in  scriptural  phrase,  "  a  land  of  darkness  as 
darkness  itself,  and  where  the  light  is  as  darkness." 
Let  us  then  strive  to  make  it  a  reality  ;  and  for  this  we 
have  abundant  materials.  This  College,  for  instance,  of 
our  own,  now  the  College  of  the  Holy  and  Undivided 
Trinity,  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  foundation,  is  in  first  origin 
a  monument  of  one  of  Dermot  MacMurrough's  transient 
seasons  of  repentance.  The  Corporation  of  Dublin, 
again,  possesses  a  Baldoyle  estate  of  considerable  value, 

of  Warwick,  and  the  Chronicle  of  Joceline  de  Brakelonda, 
Camden  Society's  Series,  p.  153.  Ihe  name  Turkil  was  not 
extinct  so  late  as  the  last  century.  A  brother  of  the  celebrated 
Rev.  Philip  Skelton  married,  when  Vicar  of  Newry  about  1720, 
a  Miss  Turkil. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE.   17 

whose  origin  goes  back  to  the  same  monarch.  We 
have  a  charter,  too,  with  his  signature,  witnessed  by 
St.  Laurence  O'Toole,1  setting  forth  an  endowment 
granted  by  him  about  1160  to  the  Abbey  of  Duisk,  in 
Kilkenny.  But  we  can  go  still  further,  and  recover 
the  books  Dermot  read,  the  education  he  received,  the 
manner  of  men  with  whom  he  conversed.  Let  us 
see  how  this  comes  to  pass.  The  Book  of  Leinster  is 
a  great  collection  of  documents.  Photius,  a  learned 
Greek  patriarch,  published  in  the  ninth  century  some 
volumes  of  extracts  accumulated  during  the  course  of 
a  studious  life,  which  he  denominated  a  Bibliotheca, 
or  a  Library.  The  Book  of  Leinster  is  a  similar  bibli- 
otheca  or  library  of  documents,  written  from  time 
to  time  during  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries, 
many  of  them  having  been  composed  some  time  about 
1 1 2O  or  1130,  by  the  tutor  to  whom  Dermot  Mac- 
Murrough's  education  was  entrusted.  The  Book  of 
Leinster  remained  for  more  than  seven  centuries 
unedited, — till  six  years  ago,  when  it  was  published 
in  facsimile,  and  thoroughly  analysed  by  our  own 
Professor  Atkinson,  at  the  joint  expense  of  this  Univer- 
sity and  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy."  Any  of  you  can 
now  consult  it  in  our  various  libraries,  and  there  you 
will  find  a  volume  which  lay  in  the  library  and  which 
exercised  the  attention  of  Dermot's  early  days.  The 
careless  or  unsympathetic  inquirer  might  easily  be 
repelled  from  it.  It  is  full  of  mythical  stories.  It  goes 

1  Cf.  Gilbert's  Facsimiles  of  Irish  National   MSS.,  No. 
LXII.,  and  on  the  same  page  the  charter  of  Holy  Cross  from 
Donnall  O' Brian. 

2  A  history   and  analysis  of  the  Book   of  Leinster  will  be 
found  in  O'Curry's  MS.  Materials  for  Irish  History,  p.  186 
(Dublin  :  1861),  and  in  the  letterpress  attached  to  Mr.  Gilbert's 
facsimiles,  No.  LIII.     See  also  note  on  p.  2  above. 


1 8  IRELAND. 

back  to  the  Flood  and  before  it,  tracing  the  history  of 
Ireland's  various  invasions  thousands  of  years  before 
the  Christian  era.  But  mingled  with  such  legends 
there  are  scraps  of  genuine  history  which  illumine  the 
tangled  and  darksome  past  of  Irish  life. 

There  is  another  aspect,  however,  from  which  such 
literary  efforts  should  be  viewed.  Egypt  has  been  of 
late  years  rendering  up  its  buried  literary  treasures, 
and  among  them  we  have  found,  not  history  alone,  but 
legends,  novels,  poems,  which  are  valuable  as  illustra- 
tions of  the  social  life  and  literary  influences  which 
formed  the  national  habits  and  character.  Everyone 
nowadays  recognises  the  vast  influence  exercised  over 
men  and  women  by  the  tales  and  poems  poured  by 
nurses  into  the  ears  of  innocent  childhood.  The 
British  Museum  carefully  collects  and  catalogues  even 
the  sixpenny  children's  books  which  come  teeming 
from  the  press,  on  this  special  ground,  that  they  will 
show  future  ages  the  social  and  literary  influences 
which  shaped  our  minds.  And  so,  too,  this  Book  of 
Leinster  is  most  valuable,  not  alone  for  the  true 
history  which  it  contains,  nor  for  the  genuine  annals 
which  it  embodies,  but  most  of  all  as  setting  forth 
the  social  life,  the  habits,  customs,  the  poetry  and 
literary  influences,  amid  which  Dermot  MacMurrough 
and  men  like  him  were  cradled  and  trained.  Read 
Professor  Atkinson's  analysis,  and  then  you  will  cease 
to  wonder  at  the  civil  strife  of  the  twelfth  century. 
Yea,  rather,  you  will  wonder  how  there  could  ever 
have  been  an  hour's  peace — not  to  speak  of  a 
year's — between  tribes  whose  earliest  notions  must 
have  been  of  war  and  mutual  hate.  One  poem,  for 
instance  (p.  27),  celebrates  the  story  of  the  renowned 
King  Connor  MacNessa  and  his  hospitality.  He  was 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE.    19 


a  prudent  man,  too,  and  knew  his  guests  right  well ;  so 
before  dinner,  as  each  guest  entered,  the  king  secured 
his  arms  and  piled  them  up  in  a  strong  chamber, 
lest  they  should  run  arnuck  at  one  another  for  some 
rough  expression.  And  then,  to  show  the  nature  of  the 
guests,  the  poem  celebrates  one  who  from  the  time 
he  took  spear  in  hand  wounded  or  killed  every  day 
some  man  of  Connaught,  and  never  slept  comfortably 
unless  the  body  of  a  Connaught  man  formed  his  pillow. 
The  contents  of  the  Book  of  Leinster  will  at  once 
explain  the  career  of  Dermot  and  his  brother  chief- 
tains. They  were  simply  such  as  their  education  had 
made  them.  The  Book  of  Leinster  was  written  for  the 
one  purpose  of  exalting  Leinster,  and  depreciating 
Connaught  and  Minister  and  everything  connected 
with  these  provinces.  One  poet  (p.  23)  says,  "  If  I 
had  seven  heads  I  could  not  tell  all  the  prowess 
of  the  Leinster  men  even  in  a  month,  without  seven 
tongues  in  each  separate  head "  ;  and  then,  recalling 
the  achievements  of  various  battles,  at  the  end  of  every 
tragedy  adds,  "  'Twas  the  Leinster  men  killed  them." 
This  brief  account  of  the  Book  of  Leinster  will  prove,  at 
any  rate,  that  Dermot  MacMurrough's  character  can 
be  tested  by  a  modern  rule.  Examine  a  man's  library, 
and  you  can  generally  fairly  gauge  his  habits  and 
character.  Examine  the  Book  of  Leinster,  and  you  will 
not  be  surprised  that  Dermot  MacMurrough's  career 
was  stained  by  bloodshed,  vice,  and  falsehood. 

MacMurrough  belonged  to  a  family  which,  for  several 
generations,  had  reigned  over  Leinster,1  and  which  still 
finds  a  lineal  representative  in  that  of  the  Kavanaghs 

1  Dermot  MacMurrough  was  descended  from  a  prince  named 
Diarmaid,  son  of  Mael-na-mbo,  who  succeeded  to  the  princi- 
pality of  Leinster  in  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century.  See 


IRELAND. 


of  the  county  Carlow.  He  was  born  about  mo,  and 
was  educated  by  Hugh  MacGriffin,  afterwards  Abbot 
of  Terryglass,  in  the  county  Tipperary.  He  ascended 
the  throne  of  Leinster  about  1135,  and  signalised  the 
very  year  of  his  accession,  according  to  the  Annals  of 
Clonmacnois,  by  attacking  the  city  of  Kildare,  sancti- 
fied by  the  memory  of  St.  Brigid,  killing  one  hundred 
and  seventy  of  the  townsmen  and  of  the  members 
of  the  convent,  and  crowning  his  wickedness  by  taking 
the  Abbess — the  successor  of  St.  Brigid — out  of  her 
cell,  and  compelling  her  to  marry  one  of  his  courtiers. 
Henceforth  his  career  was  one  continuous  tale  of 
violence.  A  lady,  too,  enters  upon  the  scene.  Tiernan 
O'Rourke,  of  Breifny,  and  Dermot  MacMurrough  had 
originally  been  suitors  for  the  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Meath,  Dervorgil  by  name.1  O'Rourke  succeeded  in 
marrying  her,  though  the  lady  favoured  Dermot  Mac- 
Murrough. Dermot,  however,  had  his  revenge.  A 
man  that  would  force  the  Abbess  of  Kildare  to 
marry,  a  lady  vested  with  even  episcopal  rights  and 
authority,  would  not  scruple  to  plot  against  another 
man's  domestic  felicity,  and  carry  off  another  man's 
wife.  So  in  1152,  when  both  parties  had  arrived  at 
the  mature  age  of  forty  at  least,  the  princess  Dervorgil 
and  Dermot  MacMurrough  established  a  mutual  corre- 
spondence; the  lady  signified,  by  trusty  messenger, 
to  Dermot  where  her  husband  had  placed  her  during 


Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1052,  O'Donovan's  edition, 
where  the  editor  traces  the  succession  of  princes,  and  descent 
of  the  families  of  MacMurrough,  Kavanagh,  and  Kinsellagh. 
1  Dervorgil  was  a  common  name  in  those  times.  See 
Ann.  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1080  and  the  Index  Nominum. 
The  mother  of  John  Balliol,  King  of  Scotland,  was  so  called. 
She  was  princess  and  heiress  of  Galloway.  See  Stubbs, 
Const.  Hist.,  i.,  557. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE.   21 


one  of  his  numerous  predatory  excursions.  Thither 
MacMurrough  marched,  carried  her  off  with  all  her 
cattle,  and  brought  her  to  his  own  residence,  at  the 
town  of  Ferns,  in  the  county  Wexford.1  This  was 
too  extreme  an  action  even  for  that  wild  time,  when 
marriage  ties  sat  very  lightly  indeed  upon  Irish  princes.* 
O'Rourke  appealed  to  Torlogh  O'Conor,  King  of 
Connaught,  his  great  ally,  who  assembled  an  army, 
marched  against  Dermot,  defeated  him,  and  restored 
Dervorgil  to  her  rightful  lord.2  This  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  perpetual  strife  between  O'Rourke  and  Mac- 
Murrough. Year  after  year  the  O'Neills  of  the  north 
were  summoned  to  Dermot's  aid,  while  the  O'Conors 
assisted  O'Rourke;  till  at  last  a  decisive  crisis  came, 
decisive  for  Ireland,  for  MacMurrough,  and  for  Eng- 
land, too,  embodying  all  the  elements  of  violence, 
cruelty,  and  falsehood  concerning  which  I  have  spoken. 
Mortogh  O'Loghlin,  of  the  northern  O'Neills,  was 
then  supreme  King  of  Ireland.  He  had  sworn  before 
the  Primate  of  Armagh,  upon  the  most  solemn  of 
Irish  relics, — the  staff  of  Jesus,  given  to  St.  Patrick 
by  our  Lord  Himself, — to  keep  the  peace  with  a 
number  of  chieftains  whose  names  I  will  not  attempt 
to  repeat.  As  soon  as  he  got  them  into  his  power 
he  blinded  one  who  is  described  as  "  the  pillar  of 


1  Ann.  Four  Masters,  1167.  Dervorgil  built  the  Nun's 
Church  at  Clonmacnois,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still  visible. 
See  O' Donovan's  note  sub.  an.  1167.  Morice  Regan  tells 
the  story  of  Dervorgil's  abduction  with  an  evident  relish. 
A  successful  achievement  of  that  kind  was  clearly  a  thing 
to  be  proud  of.  The  whole  story  reminds  one  of  the  scenes 
of  the  last  century  so  vigorously  depicted  in  Froude's 
English  in  Ireland. 

-  Dervorgil  died  at  Mellifont,  A. I).  1 193,  aged  eighty-five.  See 
note  (c)  Ann.  Four  Masters  on  that  year,  and  1152  and 
1153  in  same. 


22  .  IRELAND. 

the  prowess  and  hospitality  of  the  Irish,"  and  killed 
the  others.  This  roused  a  number  of  the  surrounding 
princes,  who  attacked  Mortogh,  utterly  defeated  his 
forces,  and  killed  the  sovereign  himself,  whom,  not- 
withstanding his  perjury  and  cruelty,  the  Four  Masters 
'describe  as  "  the  Monarch  of  all  Ireland,  the  chief 
lamp  of  the  valour,  chivalry,  hospitality,  and  prowess 
of  the  West  of  the  world  ;  a  man  who  had  never  been 
defeated  in  battle  till  that  time,  and  who  had  gained 
many  battles."  His  defeat  had  many  and  far-reaching 
results.  The  O'Conors  had  always  kept  their  eyes 
fixed  on  the  supreme  monarchy  as  the  object  of  their 
highest  ambition.  And  now  this  was  their  opportunity, 
when  their  rival  was  dead,  and  his  country  torn  with 
civil  strife.  Rory  O'Conor,  son  of  the  vigorous, 
though  cruel  and  false,  Torlogh,  was  now  the  monarch 
of  Connaught.  He  assembled  an  army,  marched  to 
Dublin,  purchased  the  alliance  of  the  Danes,  received 
the  allegiance  of  the  rebel  tribes  of  the  North,  and 
then,  turning  upon  Dermot  MacMurrough,  who  alone 
held  out,  despatched  against  Dermot  his  ancient  and 
deadly  foe,  Tiernan  O'Rourke,  burning  with  the  remem- 
brance of  ten  thousand  injuries,  public  and  private.1 

Dermot  was  now  abandoned  on  every  side.  The 
Psalmist's  words  came  true  at  last  with  Dermot  as 
with  many  another  :  "  Evil  shall  hunt  the  violent  man 
to  overthrow  him."  Dermot's  cruelties  had  alienated 
his  own  tribesmen  even,  who  forsook  him  on  every 
side.  O'Rourke  easily  defeated  the  few  who  remained 
faithful,  seized  Dermot's  house  at  Ferns,  and  drove 
him  forth  an  exile  to  seek  aid  from  Henry  II.  of 
England.  The  Book  of  Leinster  enables  us  to  fix  the 

1  See  the  events  of  this  period  briefly  and  vigorously  told  by 
the  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1166. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  IRELAND'S  INDEPENDENCE. 


very  day  of  his  defeat  and  exile.  Upon  the  margin 
of  folio  200  one  of  Dermot's  scribes  has  written, 
under  the  date  August  1st,  ii56,  "Oh  Mary,  it  is  a 
great  deed  that  is  done  in  Erin  this  day,  the  Kalends 
of  August.  Diarmid,  son  of  Donnchadh  MacMur- 
chadha,  King  of  Leinster  and  the  Danes,  was  banished, 
by  the  men  of  Ireland  over  the  sea  eastward.  Uch  ! 
Uch  !  Uch  !  O  Lord,  what  shall  I  do  ?  " — despairing 
words  of  a  courtier  which  yet  are  of  deepest  interest. 
They  prove  that  bad  as  Dermot  was  there  were  some 
who  loved  him.  They  have  a  prophetic  ring,  too,  about 
them,  though  the  seer  knew  not  of  what  he  prophesied. 
It  was  a  great  thing  that  was  then  done,  big  with 
consequences  for  Ireland,  and  for  England  too,  con- 
sequences which  have  not  yet  been  completely 
developed.  To  trace  the  immediate  results  thereof 
and  to  describe  the  invasion  of  Ireland  will  supply 
ample  materials  for  several  lectures,  and  will  show 
that  our  present  difficulties  fling  their  roots  back  into 
a  very  distant  past. 


LECTURE  II. 
THE    HISTORIAN    OF   THE    CONQUEST. 

IN  my  last  lecture  I  narrated  the  events  which  led 
up  to  the  expulsion  of  Dermot  MacMurrough 
and  his  exile  to  England.  History  repeats  itself.  It 
was  just  eleven  hundred  years  since  a  defeated  and 
exiled  Irish  prince  sought,  according  to  Tacitus,  the 
help  of  Agricola,  and  strove  to  induce  the  Roman 
conqueror  of  Anglesea  and  Wales  to  attempt  still  far- 
ther conquests  in  Ireland.1  And  so  again  in  1166 
we  find  an  Irish  prince,  defeated  in  domestic  strife, 
flying  away  for  safety  and  for  succour  to  foreign 
conquerors,  who  again  stand  upon  the  same  Welsh 
shores.  Before,  however,  I  proceed  to  deal  with  the 
story  of  the  conquest  of  Ireland  and  the  fortunes 
of  Dermot's  later  days,  let  me  endeavour  to  make 
you  realise  the  personage,  the  character,  and  the  sur- 
roundings of  the  historian  of  the  conquest  ;  a  subject 
which  will  incidentally  raise  many  questions  of  deepest 
interest  to  the  ecclesiastical  historian  of  the  Celtic 
Church  in  Wales  and  Ireland  alike. 

Giraldus  Cambrensis  is  our  great  classical  authority 
for  the  history  of  the  Norman  conquest  of  Ireland. 
We  have  several  other  authorities,  indeed,  some  of 
them  most  important  and  trustworthy.  Let  us  first 


1  See  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  pp.  14,  15. 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF   THE   CONQUEST.  25 


briefly  notice  the  latter,  and  then  return  to  the  subject 
of  Giraldus  Cambrensis.  We  have,  for  instance,  the 
so-called  Anglo-Norman  poem  of  Morice  Regan.1 
Morice  Regan  was  the  horse-boy,  as  the  Celts  called 
him, — the  valet,  private  secretary,  peculiar  personal 
attendant,  as  we  should  call  him, — of  Dermot  Mac- 
Murrough  ;  and  to  him  is  certainly  due  much  of  the 
matter  of  the  poem  which  now  passes  under  his  name. 
But  the  text  of  the  poem  as  we  have  it  was  the  work 
of  another.  This  is  manifest  from  the  poem  itself, 
which  often  refers  to  the  traditions  and  stories  of 
"  the  ancient  folk,"  as  well  as  to  the  words  of  Morice 
Regan,  which  are  expressly  distinguished  from  those 
of  the  ancient  folk.  The  accuracy  and  truth  of  the 


1  This  poem  is  taken  from  a  MS.  in  the  library  of  Lambeth 
Palace,  written  upon  vellum  in  a  fourteenth-century  hand.  It 
once  belonged  to  Sir  George  Carew,  who  made  an  analysis 
which  is  printed  by  W.  Harris  in  Hibernica,  pp.  1-21  (Dublin  : 
1757).  It  was  again  published  by  Thomas  Wright  and  Fr. 
Michel  (London  :  T.  Pickering,  1837).  Both  these  editions 
are,  however,  most  unsatisfactory.  Such  an  original  work 
as  this  would  seem  to  be  a  most  fitting  one  for  publication 
in  the  Rolls  Series,  but  somehow  or  other  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  induce  the  authorities  who  have  control  of  that 
undertaking  to  publish  any  of  the  great  Anglo-Norman 
documents  dealing  with  the  history  of  the  conquest  of  Ireland. 
There  is  a  large  number  of  MSS.  dealing  with  this  topic,  such 
as  the  Crcde  MiJii,  the  Register  or  Liber  Niger  of  Arch- 
bishop Alan,  the  Liber  Albus  and  Liber  Niger  of  Christ 
Church,  the  Register  and  Chartularies  of  St.  Thomas's 
Abbey,  containing  public  instruments  of  surpassing  value  and 
interest,  which  are  in  vain  offered  to  them.  Yet,  as  the 
Academy  of  July  i4th,  1888,  p.  19,  points  out,  they  have 
published  among  their  last  volumes  the  Chronicle  of  Robert 
of  Brnnne,  which  "  is  only  a  history  in  the  sense  that  it  is 
a  translation  of  the  old  legends  first  collected  by  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth."  The  only  use  the  reviewer  can  see  in  it  is,  that 
it  will  "  give  a  lift  by  the  way  to  the  students  of  English 
words  and  syntax."  'And  yet  the  reply  lately  made  to  a 
proposition  to  print  the  Crecte  Milii,  a  work  in  the  possession 
of  the  See  of  Dublin,  and  composed  in  the  thirteenth  century, 


26  IRELAND. 

poem  is  amply  proved,  however,  by  the  independent 
evidence  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  with  which  it  re- 
markably agrees.  Then  again  a  series  of  documents 
dealing  with  the  events  of  the  Conquest  was  published 
in  1875  in  the -first  volume  of  the  calendar  of  docu- 
ments relating  to  Ireland,  edited  by  Mr.  H.  S.  Sweetman, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls.  This 
is  an  authority  of  first-rate  importance,  as  it  furnishes 
abstracts  of  all  the  original  State  papers  preserved 
in  London  concerning  the  Conquest.  They  begin 

was,  that  it  was  not  an  original,  but  a  copy  merely  of  still 
older  documents.  As  I  shall  often  have  to  quote  these  MSS. 
I  may  once  for  all  describe  them.  The  Crede  Mihi  is  a 
MS.  in  possession  of  the  See  of  Dublin,  containing  charters, 
bulls,  etc.,  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  According 
to  Ussher  it  was  compiled  about  A. P.  1275.  A  poor  transcript 
is  in  Trinity  College  Library.  The  Liber  Niger  of  Arch- 
bishop Alan,  A.D.  1530,  is  a  register  compiled  by  that  learned 
prelate  and  friend  of  Wolsey  out  of  ancient  documents  in 
possession  of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  at  that  time.  The 
original  is  still  in  the  custody  of  his  successor.  A  fine  tran- 
script is  in  Marsh's  Library,  presented  in  the  last  century  by 
the  heirs  of  Archbishop  Bulkely  ;  an  inferior  one  is  in  Trinity 
College  Library.  The  Repertorium  Viride  is  a  full  description 
of  his  diocese  made  by  Alan  about  1530.  The  original  seems 
to  be  lost,  though  the  Record  Commissioners,  Report,  A.D. 
1810 — 1815,  pp.  307,  442,  expressly  state  that  it  then  existed 
in  Christ  Church  Cathedral.  Defective  copies  are  in  Trinity 
College  and  in  Marsh's  Library.  The  Liber  Albuj  and  Liber 
Niger  of  Christ  Church  are  registers  belonging  to  that 
Cathedral  containing  vast  numbers  of  mediaeval  documents. 
The  Liber  Niger  is  fully  analysed  in  the  Record  Com- 
missioners' Report,  just  quoted,  p.  308.  The  documents 
connected  with  St.  Thomas's  Abbey  will  shortly  appear  in  the 
Rolls  Series  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Gilbert,  in  whose 
letterpress  attached  to  his  I-'acsimilcs  Nat.  MSS.  several 
of  the  others  are  also  described.  In  the  Report  of  the  Irish 
Deputy  Keeper  of  the  Records  (Dr.  Latouche)  for  1888  there 
appears  an  exhaustive  and  valuable  abstract  of  the  Christ 
Church  documents  handed  over  to  his  custody.  Dr.  Latouche 
gives  an  account  of  467  documents,  the  earliest  being  a  grant 
by  Strongbow  to  one  of  the  family  of  Turkil,  the  Danish 
prince  of  Dublin. 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF  THE   CONQUEST.  27 

in  1170  with  the  Pipe  Roll  accounts,  and  give  us 
the  details  of  all  the  preparations  for  the  invasion. 
They  show  us  how  the  army  was  raised,  how  the 
provisions  were  purchased,  how  the  ships  were 
secured,  and  how  the  various  counties  and  cities, — 
Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Lancaster,  Devon,  Southampton, 
London,  Berks, — all  contributed  of  their  substance  and 
of  their  men  to  the  great  undertaking.  It  is  evident 
from  the  survey  there  put  before  us  that  Henry  II. 
when  he  came  to  Ireland  came  determined  to  make  a 
thorough,  a  secure,  and  a  lasting  conquest.  And  then  we 
have  the  narrative  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  contained 
in  the  Topographia  and  Expugnatio  Hibernice.1  To 
understand  them  we  must  first  of  all  understand  the 
man  who  wrote  them,  for  his  history  presents  us  with 
many  interesting  details,  throwing  a  strangely  lurid 
light  upon  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  aspect  of  the 
second  half  of  the  twelfth  century.  To  the  story  of 
Giraldus  let  us  now  apply  ourselves.  It  will  afford 
us  abundant  matter  for  this  lecture. 

Giraldus  Cambrensis  was  born  in  1 147,  and  received 
the  name  Cambrensis  from  his  native  country  Cambria, 
or  Wales.  He  was  a  Welshman  pure  and  simple  on 
his  mother's  side,  and  his  writings  are  full  of  details 
showing  the  similarity  of  the  Welsh  to  the  Irish 
Church  of  that  date.  Giraldus  belonged  to  a  family 
which  furnished  almost  all  the  leading  personages  who 

'  The  works  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  are  contained  in  the 
Rolls  Series  in  seven  volumes.  This  is  the  best  edition.  A 
convenient,  though  defective,  edition  for  English  readers  of 
the  Topographia,  Expugnatio,  the  IVclsh  Itinerary,  and 
the  Description  of  Wales  will  be  found  in  Bohn's  "Anti- 
quarian Library."  The  editor  (Air.  Wright)  makes  several 
curious  mistakes  about  Irish  geography.  At  the  same  time 
it  gives  correctly  and  conveniently  the  sense  of  Giraldus' 
narrative. 


28  IRELAND. 

figure  among  the  earliest  conquerors  of  Ireland,  whose 
descendants  occupy  to  this  day  a  high  position  amongst 
us.  His  very  name  shows  this.  He  was  Giraldus,  or 
Gerald,  and  he  was  nephew  to  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald,  the 
ancestor  of  all  the  Fitz- Geralds  of  Ireland,  and  he  was 
connected  by  blood  with  Meyler  Fitz-Henry  and 
Robert  Fitz-Henry  and  Robert  Fitz-Stephen  ;  while, 
again,  he  was  the  son  of  William  de  Barri,  and  the 
name  Barry  is  still  well  known  amongst  us.  Hereby, 
however,  hangs  a  tale.  A  lady  occupies,  as  I  have 
shown,  a  very  important  place  in  the  events  which  led 
up,  on  this  side  the  Channel,  to  the  exile  of  Dermot. 
A  lady  occupied  a  very  important  position,  too,  amid 
the  events  which  led  a  number  of  Welsh  chieftains  to 
espouse  Dermot's  side  in  the  Irish  civil  war.  Henry  I. 
of  England,  son  of  William  the  Conqueror,  was  no 
strait-laced  moralist,  and  among  his  favourites,  Nesta, 
granddaughter  of  Rhys  ap  Tudor,  a  prince  of  South 
Wales,  held  a  distinguished  position.  By  her  Henry  I. 
had  a  son,  Henry,  father  of  Meyler  Fitz-Henry  and 
Robert  Fitz-Henry.  These  grandchildren  of  Henry  I. 
by  his  Welsh  mistress  occupy  no  small  place  in  the  story 
of  Irish  conquest.  After  a  while  Henry  I.  grew  tired 
of  Nesta,  and  she  then  married  Giraldus  of  Windsor, 
Constable  of  Pembroke,  by  whom  she  had  three  sons, 
William  Fitz-Gerald,  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald,  and  David 
Fitz-Gerald,  Bishop  of  St.  David's.  She  had  also  a 
daughter  named  Angareth,  who  married  an  Anglo- 
Norman  chief  named  William  de  Barri,  whose  son  was 
Giraldus,  doubtless  so  called  after  his  grandfather 
Gerald  of  Windsor.  You  will  see  afterwards  that  this 
Fitz-Gerald  family  and  its  connexions  and  ramifications 
furnished  the  first  conquerors  who  sought  Ireland's 
shores  long  before — four  years,  at  least — Henry  II. 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF   THE    CONQUEST.  29 


came  here.  Their  achievements  and  success  roused  his 
envy  and  his  ire, — and  very  justly  so,  from  the  king's 
point  of  view.  These  Fitz-Geralds  were,  in  his  eyes,  a 
dangerous  lot.  They  were  all  closely  connected  with 
the  princes  of  South  Wales,  and  descended  on  the 
female  side  from  Nesta.  The  husbands  indeed  were 
Normans,  but  Celtic  women  have  had  in  every  age  a 
wonderful  power  of  assimilating  their  husbands  to 
themselves.  The  descendants  of  the  first  Anglo- 
Norman  settlers  in  Wexford  were  the  fiercest  rebels 
in  1798;  the  descendants  of  the  Cromwellian  settlers 
in  Tipperary,  intermarrying  with  the  Celts,  are  the 
stoutest  land  and  national  leaguers  of  to-day.  The 
Fitz-Geralds  and  the  De  Barris  of  the  twelfth  century 
showed  themselves  no  less  amenable  to  the  same  subtle 
influence.  The  husbands  forgot  their  own  Norman 
race  and  their  father's  house,  and  were  inclined  to 
champion  the  cause  of  Welsh  independence  as  sym- 
bolised by  and  embodied  in  the  person  of  the  Welsh 
princes,  with  whom  they  were  allied  by  blood.1  To 
this  subject  we  must  hereafter  return.  It  will  suffice 
now  to  indicate  the  close  c<  nnection  between  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  and  the  leading  families  of  the  earliest 
Anglo-Irish  colony,  as  opening  various  channels  for 
special  information,  and  lending  peculiar  authority  to 
the  narrative  of  the  Welsh  archdeacon.  Let  us  now 
return  to  the  story  of  Giraldus  himself.  He  was  born 
and  brought  up  at  his  father's  house  of  Maenor  Pyrr 
(now  Manorbeer),  a  small  village  on  the  sea  coast 
between  Tenby  and  Pembroke,  where  the  remains  of 
a  large  castle,  with  the  sepulchral  effigy  of  a  brother 
of  our  author,  still  testify  to  the  ancient  importance  of 


1  See  Stubbs,  Constitutional  History,  i.,  554. 


30  IRELAND. 


his  family.1  He  was  educated  for  the  Church,  and 
the  extent  of  his  classical  acquirements,  his  frequent 
quotations  from  Terence,  Virgil,  Horace,  Ovid,  Juvenal, 
Cicero,  and  Seneca  show  that  classical  studies  were, 
amid  all  their  warfare,  as  carefully  maintained  in  the 
fastnesses  of  Wales  as  amid  the  wilds  and  morasses  of 
Ireland.  It  is  amusing  to  notice  the  astonishment  of 
Mr.  Brewer,  the  latest  biographer  of  Giraldus,  as  he 
records  the  evidences  of  his  attainments.2  "The  wonder 
is,"  Brewer  says,  "  that  in  a  country  so  indubitably 
barbarous  and  uncivilized,  any  Welshman  could  be 
found  at  that  time  capable  of  giving  even  elementary 
instruction."  Mr.  Brewer  knew  nothing  of  the  hedge 
school  system  of  Ireland,  as  depicted  by  Carleton, 
which  perpetuated  to  our  own  age  the  al  fresco 
scholastic  life  of  St.  Columba  studying  under  a  tree 
at  Clonard,  and  could  not  understand  classical  attain- 
ments unless  associated  with  a  substantial  college  and 
comfortable  commons,  accompanied  by  sound  beer  and 
good  wine.3  He  concludes,  therefore,  that  Giraldus 

1  A  description  of  it  is  inserted  in   the    Welsh   Itinerary 
(Bonn's  edition),  bk.  i.,  chap,  xii.,  where   the  notes  of  Sir  R. 
C.  Hoare  give  much  additional  information.     In  this  chapter 
Giraldus  describes  the  original  castle  of  Pembroke  as  built 
by  Gerald   of  Windsor,    "a   slender  fortress   of  stakes   and 
turf,"    showing    that   the    Normans   at   first    used   the    same 
primitive  kind  of  castles  as  the  Irish  and  the  Welsh.     See 
G.  T.  Clark's  Mcdiceval  Military  Architecture,  bk.  i.,  ch.  ii. 

2  Cf.  Girald.  Camb.  opp.  (Rolls  ed.),  t.  i.,  pref.,  pp.  xii,  xiii. 

3  I  have  described  the  ancient  Irish  school  system  in  my 
previous  volume,  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  pp.  229,  230. 
That    system  continued  to  flourish   all   through  the  ages    of 
Anglo-Norman  dominion,  and  only  died  out — if  it  is  even  yet 
dead — under  the   influence  of  the  present  national  system  of 
education.      In    Primate  Marsh's    Library   I   lately   found    an 
astronomical  treatise  of  the  fourteenth  century.     It  is  written 
on  vellum,  and  evidently  belonged  to  one  of  the  ancient  Irish 
schools.     It  is  an  Irish  translation  from  a  Latin  original,  and 
is  profusely  interspersed  with  diagrams. 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF   THE   CONQUEST.  31 

must  have  been  instructed  by  the  chaplains  of  his 
uncle,  the  Norman  bishop,  who  then  ruled  the  See  of 
St.  David's.  These  chaplains  seem  certainly  to  have 
exercised  a  healthy  influence  upon  him.  Giraldus  early 
manifested  a  devout  tendency,  and  was  therefore  dedi- 
cated to  the  priestly  office,  a  profession  in  which  his 
courtly  influence  would  be  of  much  use.  He  fell, 
however,  into  the  common  tendency  of  all  boys,  and 
became  idle.  The  chaplains,  observing  this,  roused  him 
to  exertion  by  declining  to  him,  the  one,  durus,  dnrior 
(hirissimus,  and  the  other,  stitltits,  stultior,  stultisswnts. 
The  rebuke  had  the  desired  effect,  and  never  needed 
repetition.  He  studied  hard,  and  then  repaired  to 
Paris,  the  favourite  school  for  Western  Europe,  where 
he  flung  himself  into  the  study  of  civil  and  canon 
law.1  He  returned  to  England  about  the  year  1172, 
and  in  1175  was  created  Archdeacon  of  Brecknock,  an 
office  which  in  those  times  brought  with  it  so  many 
duties  and  temptations  that  it  was  a  popular  problem 
for  casuists  to  solve,  "  whether  an  archdeacon  could 
possibly  be  saved."2  Giraldus  Cambrensis  himself,  how- 

1  See  the  article  on  "  Universities  "  in  the  last  edition  of  the 
fL?icyclopccdia  firitamiica  for  an  account  of  the  University  of 
Paris. 

-  Cf.  John  of  Salisbury,  Ep.  clxvi.  opp.  eel.  Giles,  i.,  260, 
and  Girald.,  opp.,  t.  vii.  (Rolls  Series),  pref. ,  p.  Ixxxvi.  This 
tradition  seems  to  have  come  over  to  Ireland  with  the 
Normans,  and  to  have  been  perpetuated,  as  the  following-  story 
proves.  In  the  early  part  of  this  century  there  was  an 
Archdeacon  of  Meath  named  De  Lacy.  He  was  a  mighty 
hunter  in  days  when  the  Irish  clerical  standard  was  not  very 
high.  He  got  a  bad  fall  one  day  when  trying  a  very  stiff 
hedge,  and  was  lying  senseless  beside  his  horse  when  some 
farmers  rode  up  with  whom  he  was  very  popular  on  account 
of  his  hunting-  propensity.  "There  you  lie,"  cried  one  of 
them,  thinking  him  dead,  "  There  you  lie,  Archdaycon  De 
Lacy,  and  if  ever  an  Archdaycon  gets  to  heaven,  you  will  have 
a  good  chance  of  being  found  there." 


32  IRELAND. 


ever,  had  no  doubts  on  the  topic;  he  thought  very  highly 
of  his  own  office,  and  magnified  it,  but  thought  rather 
slightingly  of  the  episcopal  office,  after  which,  however, 
he  earnestly  craved.  He  even  gave  utterance  to  very 
presbyterian  notions  on  this  subject.  He  knew  of 
Jerome's  opinion  on  the  essential  equality  of  bishops 
and  presbyters,  and  the  origin  of  the  episcopal  office.1 
He  knew  the  spiritual  danger  of  an  archdeacon's  office, 
but  he  thought  the  episcopal  still  more  dangerous  than 
the  archidiaconal  function,  for  in  one  of  his  works8 
he  gravely  discusses  the  question,  "  What,  then,  are  all 
bishops  to  be  damned  ?  " — replying,  "  God  forbid  !  for 
were  not  Nicholas,  Martin,  Germanus,  Basil,  and  Thomas 
a  Becket  bishops  ?  "  Yet  he  thinks  it  more  difficult 
for  a  bishop  to  attain  salvation  than  a  common  man, 
asking,  "  Where  now  can  we  find  episcopal  love  and 
temperance  like  that  of  St.  Nicholas,  or  sackcloth  and 
ashes,  water  and  parched  corn  used  by  bishops,  as  Basil 
and  Germanus  used  them  ?  " 

Giralduswas  made  Archdeacon  of  Brecknock  in  1175, 
and  immediately  set  himself  to  reform  the  Welsh  Church. 
He  came  back  from  Paris  burning  with  zeal  for  Church 
discipline.  He  knew  the  shortcomings  of  the  Welsh 
Church,  and  heartily  desired  to  remove  them.  His  uncle 
was  still  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  and  what  was  his  horror 
to  find  that  one  of  his  uncle's  archdeacons  was  a  married 
man.  Giraldus  urged  his  suspension,  and  the  bishop 
yielded,  rewarding  his  vigorous  and  reforming  nephew 
with  the  vacant  archdeaconry.  Giraldus'  office  gave  him 
every  opportunity  of  becoming  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  state  of  the  Welsh  Church,  of  which  he  has  left  us 

'  See  his  Epistle  to  Peter  de  Leia,  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  in 
opp.  i.,  221   (Rolls  Series). 

-  De  Invcct.,  VI. ,  27  :  i>pp.,  t.  i.,  p.  igi  (Rolls  Series). 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF  THE  CONQUEST.  33 

in  his  various  works  a  complete  picture.  That  picture 
proves  that  it  was  in  all  respects  practically  identical 
with  the  Irish.1  Its  clergy  and  its  bishops  were  often 
married  men.  Anchorites  were  scattered  in  every 
direction,  some  of  them  living  attached  to  churches,  as 
at  St.  Dulough's."  The  monks,  who  might  be  supposed 
to  be  bound  to  celibacy,  disregarded  their  vows ; 3 
the  clergy  lived  secular  lives,  joined  in  secular  pursuits, 
and  handed  their  livings  from  father  to  son  just  as  the 
Primates  of  Armagh  did  for  two  hundred  years  prior 
to  St.  Malachy's  time.  Giraldus  tells  some  anecdotes 
illustrating  the  tenacity  with  which  the  Welsh  Celts 
clung  to  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  and  their  hereditary 
claims  upon  Church  livings.1  In  fact,  I  do  not  think 


1  Giraldus  Cambrensis  in  his  writings  notices  several  points 
in  which  the  Irish  and  Welsh  ecclesiastical  customs  were 
identical.  Thus,  in  the  IVclsh  Itinerary,  lib.  i.,  cap.  i.,  he 
mentions  the  staff  of  St.  Cyric,  just  like  the  staff  of  Jesus  long 
preserved  at  Armagh  (cf.  TopograpJi.,  iii.,  33,  34)  ;  the  horn 
of  St.  Patrick,  used  alike  in  Wales  and  I reland(/^y£r <:?///.,  iii., 
34) ;  the  use  of  saints'  bells  {Itinerary,  i.,  i) ;  the  presence  of 
Culdees  {Itinerary,  ii.,  6,  7);  the  vindictive  character  of  Welsh 
and  Irish  saints  {Itinerary,  ii.,  ~j]  ;  the  abuses  of  fosterage 
{Description  of  Wales,  ii.,  4).  All  the  documents  here  referred 
to  are  printed  in  Bohn's  edition  of  Giraldus'  works. 

-  See  Girald.  Camb.  opp.  (Rolls  Series),  i.,  89,  90;  ii.,  246. 
Cf.  Ireland  and  Celtic  C/iurch,  pp.  1/5-83. 

3  See  Girald.  Camb.  opp.  (Rolls  Series),  i.,  89,  90. 

1  The  following  extract  from  the  Description,  of  Wales,  ii., 
6,  will  prove  this: — "Their  churches  have  almost  as  many 
parsons  and  sharers  as  there  are  principal  men  in  the  parish. 
The  sons,  after  the  decease  of  their  fathers,  succeed  to  the 
ecclesiastical  benefices,  not  by  election,  but  by  hereditary  right, 
possessing  and  polluting  the  sanctuary  of  God.  And  if  a 
prelate  should  by  chance  presume  to  appoint  or  institute  any 
other  person,  the  people  would  certainly  revenge  the  injury 
upon  the  institution  and  the  instituted.  With  respect  to  those 
two  excesses  of  incest  and  succession  which  took  root  formerly 
in  Armorica,  and  are  not  yet  eradicated,  Ildebert,  Bishop  ot 
Le  Mans,  in  one  of  his  Kpistles  say ,  '  that  he  was  present 
with  a  British  priest  at  a  council  summoned  with  a  view  of 


34  1REI AXD. 

you  could  possibly  find  more  interesting  sketches  of 
Church  life  in  the  twelfth  century  than  the  writings  of 
Giraldus  afford  if  they  were  but  translated  out  of  his 
rude  Latin. 

Let  me  give  you  a  specimen  or  two.  He  wrote  a 
treatise,  De  Rebus  a  se  Gestis,  which  is  most  amusing  from 
the  intense  vanity  of  the  man,  and  yet  is  full  of  touches 
letting  us  into  the  very  inner  life  of  the  time.  As  soon 
as  he  was  made  archdeacon  he  commenced  a  round  of 
visitation.  New  brooms  always  sweep  clean.  There 
was  a  distant  corner  of  the  diocese  where  he  had  heard 
rumours  of  strange  doings.1  In  one  church  a  knight 
was  said  to  share  with  his  brother,  the  priest,  the  alms 
and  oblations  of  the  faithful.'"'  This  abuse  the  new 

putting  an  end  to  the  enormities  of  this  nation.'  Hence  it 
appears  that  these  vices  have  for  a  long-  time  prevailed  both 
in  Brittany  and  in  Britain."  Monastic  vows  seem  to  have 
sat  loosely  on  the  Celts,  as  Giraldus  mentions  an  abbot 
who  had  eighteen  children,  opp.  (Rolls  Series),  iv.,  90;  cf.  iii. 
214,  and  also  Palgrave's  Rotuli  Curies  Regis,  Introd.,  sec.  xvii. 
In  the  same  chapter  of  the  Description  of  Wales  he  notices 
another  pre-nuptial  custom  which  even  still  conduces  to  im- 
morality, not  only  in  Wales,  but  in  various  parts  of  Northern 
England.  The  practice  of  bundling,  as  it  is  called,  is 
evidently  a  relic  of  barbaric  times. 

1  Girald.  Camb.,  De  Rcbns,  i.,  5.  Cf.  opp.  (Rolls  Series), 
t.  i.,  Introd.,  p.  xxii.,  and  p.  30. 

v  He  notices  (  Welsh  Itinerary,  ii.  4)  a  church  in  Wales 
which,  like  many  others  in  Wales  and  Ireland,  had  a  lay  abbot 
or  steward,  who  usurped  the  larger  share  of  the  endowment, 
paying  the  clergy  some  small  portion  thereof.  These  lay 
abbots  were  evidently  the  same  as  the  Irish  Corbes  and 
Herenachs,  officials  who  continued  to  flourish  in  Ireland  till 
the  reign  of  Charles  I.  at  least.  See  Ussher's  treatise  on  The 
Original  of  Corbcs,  Hercnaches,  and  Term  on  Lands,  opp. 
(Elrington's  ed.),  xi.  434-45.  Giraldus  tells  us  in  the  same 
chapter  the  following  story,  which  helps  to  explain  the  frequent 
and  bloody  contests  between  rival  churches  and  monasteries 
in  Ireland  and  Wales.  "  It  happened  that  in  the  reign  of 
King  Stephen,  who  succeeded  Henry  I.,  a  knight  born  in 
Armorican  Britain  having  travelled  through  many  parts  of  the 


THE  IffSTOKIAN  OF  THE  CONQUEST.  35 


archdeacon  put  down,  not  without  threats  of  personal 
violence  on  the  knight's  part.  In  another  direction, 
remote  from  his  residence,  he  heard  of  a  church  where 
there  were  no  less  than  seven  participators  or  portionists 
in  one  parish,  all  doubtless  connected  by  blood.1  They 
sent  a  deputation  to  him,  claiming  exemption  from  his 
visitation.  Then  they  threatened  him ;  finally  when 
he  with  his  retinue  approached  the  parish,  the  clergy 
attacked  the  bold  archdeacon  with  lances,  spears,  and 
arrows.  The  archdeacon  retired  defeated  for  the 
moment,  but  sent  off  at  once  to  a  neighbouring  chief 
to  whom  he  was  related  by  blood,  Cadwallan,  son  of 
Madoc,  demanding  assistance,  which  was  quickly 
granted.  The  threat  of  force  was,  however,  quite 
sufficient  for  the  warlike  parsons,  and  they  submitted 
to  the  archdeacon's  jurisdiction. 

A    more    amusing    story    still     tells     how     Giraldus 


world,  came  by  chance  to  Llanpadarn.  On  a  certain  feast  day, 
whilst  both  clergy  and  laity  were  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the 
abbot  to  celebrate  mass,  he  perceived  a  body  of  young  men, 
armed  according  to  the  custom  of  their  country,  approaching 
towards  the  church  ;  and  on  enquiring  which  of  them  was  the 
abbot,  they  pointed  out  to  him  a  man  walking  foremost,  with  a 
long  spear  in  his  hand.  Gazing  on  him  with  amazement,  he 
asked  if  the  abbot  had  not  another  habit  or  a  different  staff 
from  that  which  he  now  carried  before  him.  On  their 
answering  '  No,'  he  replied,  '  I  have  seen  indeed  and  heard 
this  day  a  wonderful  novelty !  '  And  from  that  hour  he 
returned  and  finished  his  labours  and  researches." 

'  The  term  portionist  was  often  used  in  mediaeval  times. 
It  was  applied  to  two  or  three  persons  joint  rectors  of  a  parish. 
Portionists  still  exist  in  the  Church  of  England.  The  cele- 
brated Archdeacon  Townson,  for  instance,  was  portionist 
rector  of  Malpas,  in  Cheshire  ;  see  the  Memoir  by  Churton 
prefixed  to  his  IVorks,  t.  i.,  p.  xix.  Malpas  was  a  portionary 
parish  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  ;  see  Valor  Ecclesiasticus, 
t.  v.,  p.  212.  An  unpleasant  case  concerning  a  grave  irregu- 
larity in  the  celebration  of  Holy  Communion  lately  before  the 
Ecclesiastical  Courts  in  England  involved  a  portionist  rector. 


36  IRELAND. 

defeated  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  when  he  endeavoured 
to  make  a  raid  on  the  churches  of  St.  David's  {De  Rcb. 
Gcst.,  i.,  6 ;  cf.  Brewer's  preface,  t.  i.,  p.  xxii).  The 
archdeacon  had  just  got  home  from  the  perilous  ex- 
pedition of  which  I  have  just  told  you,  and  had  been 
three  or  four  days  in  repose,  when  the  rural  dean  of 
the  same  district  came  in  a  panic,  announcing  that 
the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  had  declared  his  intention  to 
visit,  consecrate,  and  celebrate  mass  the  very  next 
Sunday  in  the  church  of  Keri,  which  lay  on  the  ex- 
treme boundary  of  the  diocese  of  St.  David's,  but  had 
always  been  reckoned  part  of  it.  The  archdeacon  at 
once  roused  himself,  despatched  messengers  to  his 
brethren  and  kinsmen,  asking  them  to  come  the  next 
morning,  Saturday,  to  his  assistance  with  horses,  arms, 
and  provisions,  as  the  bishop  was  advancing  with  an 
armed  party  also.  The  archdeacon  was  the  younger 
and  more  active  man,  and  so  proceeding  by  forced 
marches  he  anticipated  the  bishop,  and  got  on  Sunday 
morning  before  the  church  door.  After  the  usual 
Welsh  style,  there  were  two  incumbents.  They  dis- 
liked Giraldus  and  favoured  the  bishop,  so  they  fled  to 
the  bishop  and  hid  the  keys  of  the  church.  After  some 
delay  they  were  found,  when  Giraldus  vested  himself 
with  all  speed,  rang  the  bells,  and  proceeded  to  celebrate 
mass.  In  the  midst  of  the  service  word  was  brought 
that  the  bishop  was  approaching.  Giraldus  calmly 
concluded  the  service,  and  then  proceeded  to  meet  the 
intruder.  He  tells  us  that  he  knew  the  man  right  well, 
and  his  character,  for  he  had  studied  with  him  at  Paris. 
Leaving  a  party,  therefore,  to  hold  the  church  and  ring  the 
bells  at  a  given  signal,  he  advanced  in  his  vestments  to 
meet  the  bishop  at  the  churchyard  gate,  demanding  what 
brought  him  there.  The  bishop  produced  an  ancient 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF  77 fE  CONQUEST.  37 

book  which  asserted  that  the  church  of  Keri  belonged 
to  St.  Asaph.  The  archdeacon  told  him  he  might 
write  or  read  anything  he  pleased  in  his  book,  but 
challenged  him  to  produce  any  authentic  charter  giving 
the  parish  to  the  diocese  of  St.  Asaph.  "  I  will  ex- 
communicate thee,"  said  the  bishop,  waxing  wrathful. 
"And  I  will  excommunicate  thee,"  replied  the  bold 
archdeacon.  "  You  are  only  an  archdeacon,"  said  the 
bishop,  "  and  an  archdeacon  cannot  excommunicate 
a  bishop."  "  If  you  are  a  bishop,"  replied  Giraldus, 
"you  are  not  my  bishop,  and  I  have  as  good  a  right  to 
excommunicate  thee  as  thou  me."  I  lereupon  the  bishop 
slipped  off  his  horse,  clapped  on  his  mitre,  seized  his 
pastoral  staff,  and  began  to  read  the  dread  sentence. 
Giraldus  had,  however,  anticipated  all  this,  so  while  the 
prelate  was  making  preparations,  Giraldus  advanced  at 
the  head  of  his  own  procession  of  priests  and  deacons 
duly  vested,  and  began  his  counter-sentence  of  excom- 
munication in  a  still  louder  voice  than  the  bishop's,  and 
then  signalling  to  the  church  tower,  caused  the  bells  to 
ring  out  as  was  usually  done  when  the  act  of  excom- 
munication was  complete.  Boldness  carried  the  day,  as 
it  always  does  with  the  populace.  The  bells  were  too 
much  for  the  bishop  ;  the  dread  signal  quite  upset  him 
and  his  followers.  They  turned  tail  and  fled,  followed 
by  a  howling  mob,  who  pursued  them  with  stones,  mud, 
and  execrations,  till  the  bishop  fell  into  the  hands  of  a 
party  of  the  archdeacon's  clergy,  who  were  advancing 
to  support  him  armed  with  bows  and  spears.  The 
amusing  story  ends  with  telling  us  how,  the  same 
Sunday  evening,  they  all,  the  intruding  bishop  and  the 
victorious  archdeacon  included,  became  fast  friends  over 
the  archdeacon's  good  dinner  and  his  very  best  wine 
pci'optinio  potu. 


38  IRELAND. 

A  notable  event  in  the  life  of  Giraldus — in  fact,  the 
turning-point  and  crisis  of  his  life — was  his  contest  about 
the  see  of  St.  David's.  He  was,  as  I  have  noted,  very 
presbyterian  in  his  notions  about  presbyters  and 
bishops,  yet  he  was  very  desirous  to  be  a  bishop,  and 
spent  a  long  life  vainly  seeking  for  an  office  he  pre- 
tended to  despise.  Upon  the  death  of  his  uncle,  David 
Fitz-Gerald,  in  May  1176,  the  Chapter  of  St.  David's 
elected  Giraldus  bishop  in  room  of  the  defunct.  There 
was  a  difficulty,  however.  Since  the  reign  of  Henry  I., 
the  English  kings  had  so  thoroughly  established  their 
suzerainty  over  Wales,  that  though  the  princes  were 
still  nominally  independent,  yet  the  bishops  were  all 
chosen  and  admitted  by  the  king's  authority,  and 
consecrated  at  Canterbury.1  St.  David's  had  been  the 
Metropolitan  See  of  Wales,  and  Giraldus  was  intensely 
desirous  to  revive  its  former  glories  and  its  ancient 
claims. 

But  Henry  II.  knew  Giraldus  too  well.  He  dis- 
trusted the  whole  tribe  of  the  Fitz-Geralds.  They 
united  Norman  skill  and  courage  to  Celtic  blood  and 
pretensions.  They  had  already  tried,  as  I  shall  more 
full}'  show  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  to  establish  what 
would  have  been  an  independent  colony  in  Ireland  ; 


1  Cf.  Stubbs,  Constitutional  History,  t.  i.,  chap,  xiii.,  p.  554, 
where  he  writes  concerning  the  Welsh  princes  : — "  The  fact  that 
their  bishops  received  their  consecration  at  Canterbury,  and 
were,  from  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  elected  and  admitted  under 
the  authority  of  the  kings  of  England,  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  anything  like  real  sovereignty  was  lost  to  the  so-called 
kings  of  Wales."  It  was  just  the  same  in  Ireland,  as  we 
shall  hereafter  show.  The  kings  of  Connaught  and  the  other 
I  rish  princes  were  acknowledged  by  Henry  II.  as  princes.  But 
the  Archbishop  of  Tuam  and  the  other  bishops  were  all  ap- 
pointed by  Henry.  He  had  no  intention  of  allowing  such 
important  officials  to  fall  under  local  influence  and  patronage. 


THE  HISTORIAN  OI-    THE  CONQUEST.  39 


but  he  had  stopped  that.  One  Fitz-Gerald  had  been 
troublesome  enough  at  St.  David's,  but  matters  would 
wax  still  worse  if  a  much  more  active  and  a  younger 
member  of  the  same  faction  were  elevated  to  the  vacant 
See.  The  Welsh  had  already  endeavoured  to  restore 
St.  David's  to  its  old  position,  but  the  king  was 
inexorable.  They  offered  him  money,  but  it  was  of  no 
avail.  So  long  as  life  lasted,  Henry  declared  he  would 
never  raise  up  a  head  for  rebellion  in  Wales  by  giving 
the  Welsh  a  Metropolitan.  The  sudden  vacancy  gave 
the  Chapter  a  chance  of  choosing  a  man  who  would  be 
a  Metropolitan  in  fact  if  not  in  name,  and  so  they 
chose  Giraldus.  It  was  now,  however,  the  established 
custom  that,  before  an  episcopal  election,  the  king 
should  be  apprised  of  the  vacancy,  and  a  conge  d'dirc 
issued.1  The  present  practice,  in  fact,  of  the  English 
Church  goes  back  to  these  early  Norman  times. 
Roman  Catholic  controversialists  sometimes  taunt  that 
Church  with  the  secular  and  Erastian  character  of 
English  episcopal  appointments.  The  reply  is  easy 
and  crushing.  There  is  not  one  of  the  forms  and 
ceremonies  observed  in  our  modern  episcopal  elec- 
tions which  does  not  come  clown  from  the  Mediaeval 
Church.  A  glance  into  the  patent  rolls  preserved  in 
the  Record  Office,  as  edited  by  Sir  T.  D.  Hardy, 
will  show  that  every  form  now  in  use  in  the  English 
Establishment — royal  assent,  mode  of  election,  res- 
titution of  temporalities,  homage — has  continued  the 
same  since  the  days  of  Thomas  a  Becket.  The 
Chapter  of  St.  David's  did  not  wait  for  the  royal 


1  The  issue  of  a  conge  (f  cl ire  was  most  rigidly  insisted  upon 
by  the  early  English  kings.  See  Dr.  Latouche's  Report  for 
1888  on  Irish  Public  Records,  p.  64,  No.  155,  for  an  instance 
of  this  in  A.D.  1299  ;  cf.  No.  164. 


40  IRELAND. 

permission,  but  chose  Giraldus  and  two  others  (the 
most  unfit  they  could  find)  to  submit  to  the  king, 
in  order  to  force  him  to  select  the  Fitz-Gerald  whom 
they  desired.  Henry  II.  waxed  outrageous  when  he 
heard  of  their  presumption.  As  Mr.  Brewer  puts  it 
in  his  preface  to  the  Works  of  Giraldus,  "  He  snorted 
out  his  wrath  as  none  but  he  and  Henry  VIII.  knew 
how.  He  swore  he  would  banish  every  one  who  had 
taken  any  part  in  these  matters.  Not  a  Welshman 
of  them  all  should  escape  him.  '  As  they  have  allowed 
me  no  part  in  this  election,  I'll  take  care  they  have 
no  part  in  this  promotion/  he  exclaimed  in  a  tone  of 
savage  banter  which  seldom  forsook  him  in  his 
irritable  moments."  He  annulled  the  whole  election, 
and  made  choice  of  Peter  de  Leia,  an  Augustinian 
monk,  to  succeed  David  Fitz-Gerald.  This  made  a  final 
and  irretrievable  breach  between  Giraldus  and  the 
king.  The  archdeacon  may  conceal  it  for  a  time,  but 
on  every  possible  occasion  he  lets  us  see  how  he  hated 
Henry  II.  and  all  his  supporters.  He  declaims  against 
Anglican  tyranny  and  the  type  of  bishops  whom  the 
Normans  were  forcing  on  Wales.  He  denounces  a  prac- 
tice from  which  both  Ireland  and  Wales  have  suffered 
deeply,  which  began  in  Norman  times,  and  has  scarcely 
yet  ceased.  Norman  bishops  were  intruded  into  Welsh 
dioceses,  which  they  abandoned  to  neglect,  or  visited 
as  seldom  as  possible,  concentrating  all  their  energies 
upon  efforts  to  obtain  translations  to  English  Sees.1 


1  Tt  is  amusing  to  notice  ho\v  the  same  policy  is  still  pursued 
in  the  C'olonies,  where  English  bishops  are  despatched  to  every 
vacant  post,  to  the  neglect  of  the  resident  clergy.  These 
colonial  bishops  from  England  an;,  of  course,  just  like  the 
ancient  Welsh  bishops,  ever  on  the  look-out  for  an  English 
translation,  or  a  comfortable  English  living. 


THE  HISTORIAN  Ol-    THE  CONQUEST.  41 

Mere  worldly  policy  was  the  impelling  motive  of  the 
Norman  kings.  They  sent  Norman  bishops  to  Wales, 
not  as  spiritual  pastors,  but  as  secular  policemen,  to 
watch  the  princes  and  make  early  report  of  their 
intention  to  burst  into  rebellion  ;  and  they  thus  laid, 
seven  centuries  ago,  the  foundations  of  those  religious 
feuds  and  distractions  which  have  alienated  the  masses 
of  the  Welsh  people  from  the  communion  of  their 
ancient  Church. 

The  latter  portion  of  the  life  of  Giraldus  was  divided 
between  two  great  purposes.  Fie  appealed  to  Rome 
against  Henry  II.  concerning  the  bishopric  of  St. 
David's.  Again  and  again  did  he  resort  thither.  Four 
times  did  he  travel  to  Rome  and  back  between  1199 
and  1203, — a  fair  allowance  even  for  a  modern  traveller, 
with  all  the  advantages  of  the  steamer  and  railway. 
A  clergyman  of  those  days  apparently  thought  much 
less  of  a  trip  to  Italy  than  we  do  now,  notwithstanding 
all  the  perils  of  the  way  which  then  had  to  be  en- 
countered. And  the  narrative  of  Giraldus  shows  them 
to  have  been  numerous  enough.  But  the  perils  of  land 
and  sea  were  not  the  worst.  When  Giraldus  got  to 
Rome  he  found  the  perils  of  the  city  no  less  dangerous. 
Royal  influence  was  against  him,  and  the  Roman  court 
has  never  cared  over-much  for  quarrels  with  English 
kings.  In  fact,  I  believe  that  Irish  Roman  Catholics  com- 
plain bitterly  that  English  influence,  even  though  hostile 
to  the  Pope  from  a  religious  point  of  view,  is  much- 
more  potent  in  papal  court  circles  than  that  of  the  more 
faithful  Irish,  and  that  an  English  nobleman  is  a  much 
more  acceptable  personage  to  a  Roman  cardinal  than 
a  bishop  from  Connaught  or  Minister.  Intrigue,  too, 
abounded  on  every  side  ;  while,  withal,  the  charges, 
fees,  and  bribery  absolutely  necessary,  drained  poor 


42  IRELAND. 

Giraldus  completely  dry.  And  after  all  he  failed. 
Once  or  twice  the  episcopal  prize  seemed  almost 
within  his  grasp,  the  Pope  seemed  ready  to  decide  in 
his  favour  ;  yet  he  failed,  and  had  to  live  and  die 
Archdeacon  of  Brecknock. 

The  other  object  to  which  he  devoted  his  life  was 
the  attainment  of  literary  fame.  He  wrote  widely, 
and  he  wrote  well.  The  man  who  wishes  to  get 
a  realistic  picture  of  the  state  of  mediaeval  Chris- 
tianity will  do  well  to  study  the  numerous  and  portly 
volumes  which  Giraldus  fills  in  the  Rolls  Series. 
That  study  will  possibly  disillusionise  some  of  you 
who  may  be  tempted  to  think  of  the  "  ages  of  faith," 
as  sometimes  they  arc  called,  as  a  time  of  halcyon  peace 
and  holiness.  The  picture  drawn  by  our  historian  is 
of  the  saddest  character.  The  priesthood  were  often 
careless  and  immoral,  the  bishops  worldly,  the  people 
coarse  and  barbarous,  the  monks,  even  the  order 
which  St.  Bernard  had  reformed,  selfish,  sensual, 
avaricious.  Let  me  give  you  a  specimen  of  Giraldus' 
description.  He  specially  hated  the  Cistercians,  the 
order  to  which  Mary's  Abbey  and  Mellifont,  among 
ourselves,  belonged.  He  piles  up  tale  after  tale 
against  them.  Cistercians — English,  Welsh,  Irish — are 
all  equally  his  abomination.1  He  tells  us  how  the 
Cistercians  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey  (whose  beautiful  Chapter 
House  still  exists,  just  oft"  Capel  Street,  as  perfect  as 
the  first  day  it  was  finished, — reduced,  alas  !  however, 
to  the  low  estate  of  a  guano  store)  persuaded  all  the 
people  of  Dublin  to  join  their  order  on  the  death  of 
St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  pretending  that  it  was  the  only 

1  See  his  ffiucrary  f /iron^'/i  Wales,  lib.  i.,  cap.  3,  or  pp. 
359-64  in  Bohn's  edition,  where  many  amusing  stories  to 
the  disadvantage  uf  the  Cistercians  \vill  be  found. 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF  THE  CONQUEST.  43 

way  of  salvation  remaining  to  them.1  He  pictures  them 
as  the  great  e victors  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  cer- 
tainly were  some  of  the  greatest  farmers  of  those 
times.  They  cut  down  forests,  reclaimed  bogs,  drained 
morasses,  and  now,  wherever  a  Cistercian  monastery 
stood,  you  will  find — as  at  Fountains  -good  land,  fine 
trees,  and  beautiful  scenery. 

But  if  they  farmed  well,  they  were  sweeping  in  their 
clearances,  merciless  in  their  evictions.  And  they 
allowed  no  obstacles  to  stand  in  their  way.  They  were 
hampered  neither  by  scruples  nor  by  land  Acts.  Giral- 
dus  compares  them  to  William  Rufus  forming  the  New 
Forest,  and  tells  us  how  a  parish  priest  in  his  time  went 
mad  through  their  action.-  He  went  away  for  a  single 
night,  leaving  his  church,  village,  and  parish  in  peace. 
He  came  back  the  next  day  to  find  no  trace  of  either 
church  or  village,  his  parish  a  howling  waste,  and  all 
annexed  to  a  neighbouring  Cistercian  farm.  The  monks 
had  made  a  clean  sweep  of  everything  in  one  day,  and 
the  poor  incumbent  lost  his  head,  convinced  the  world 
had  come  to  an  end.  Giraldus  doubted  even  their  faith 
in  Christ,  and  tells  us  of  a  biting  joke  of  Walter  Mapes, 
Archdeacon  of  Oxford,  who,  when  he  heard  that  a 
number  of  them  had  become  Jews,  rejoined  that  it  was 
a  pity  they  had  not  first  tried  Christianity."  Giraldus 
is  best  known  as  a  literary  character  by  his  works  on 
Ireland,  his  Topographia  and  his  Expugnatio,  which  are 
to  this  day  authorities  of  primary  importance  concerning 
the  social  state  of  Ireland,  and  the  actual  facts  of  its 

1  Cf.  Girald.  Ccimb.  opp.  (Rolls  Scries),  t.  iv.,  p.  178. 

2  Speculum  hcclcsiic,  opp.  t.  iv.,  135-37  (Rolls  Series). 

3  Cf.  Brewer's  preface  to  the  fourth  volume  of  the  Works  of 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  in  Rolls  Scries,   p.   xli,  for  an  amusing 
story  illustrating  the  hatred  which  existed  between  Mapes  and 
the  Cistercians. 


44  IRELAND. 

conquest,  from  1166  and  onwards.  He  had  every 
advantage  qualifying  him  for  his  task.  He  was  related 
by  close  ties  to  all  the  first  invaders.  He  made  frequent 
visits  to  Ireland  to  consult  them.  On  one  occasion  he 
took  a  sudden  determination  to  fly  to  Rome  without  royal 
leave.  Before  he  did  so  he  sailed  across  to  Dublin  in 
the  course  of  one  day  to  consult  Meyler  the  justiciary, 
and  the  rest  of  the  Fitz-Gerald  clan,  as  to  his  course  of 
action.1  He  was  sent  officially  to  Ireland  with  Prince 
John,  then  a  youth,  to  be  his  guide,  philosopher,  and 
friend, — a  somewhat  difficult  office  rightly  to  discharge 
in  that  particular  instance.  He  had  access — free,  abun- 
dant access — to  official  documents  at  home  and  in  Rome, 
and  as  the  result  he  has  bequeathed  to  us  two  valuable 
works.  One  is  called  the  Topography  of  Ireland.  It  is  a 
kind  of  handbook  of  Irish  wonders  and  curiosities,  real 
or  reputed.  It  is  divided,  after  the  scholastic  fashion, 
into  three  Distinctions  :  the  first  treating  of  the  natural 
history  of  Ireland  ;  the  second  of  its  wonders  and 
miracles  ;  and  the  third,  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland. 
It  was  originally  published  about  the  year  1 1 86,  but 
Giraldus  republished  it  at  different  times,  making  con- 
stant additions.  He  was  very  proud  of  it,  too.  He 
presented  a  copy  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
tells  us  the  worthy  prelate  could  never  grow  weary  of 
hearing  it.  He  went  off  to  Oxford, — then  rising  into 
note  as  a  place  of  learning, — and  read  it  publicly,  on 
three  successive  days,  to  the  doctors,  students,  and  the 
populace,  securing  a  favourable  audience  by  liberally 
feasting  all  his  hearers.  This  work  is  well  worth 
reading,  embodying,  as  it  docs,  the  remarks  of  a  very 
keen  observer,  though  a  very  vain  man.  The  other 


1  Cf.  Giraltl.  Camb.  opp.,  i.,  122  (Rolls  Series). 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF  THE  CONQUEST.  45 


work  of  Giraldus  dealing  with  this  island  is  the 
Conquest  of  Ireland,  which  gives  a  history  of  the  Eng- 
lish invasion,  beginning  with  the  intrigue  of  Dermot 
MacMurrough  and  Dervorgil,  and  reaching  down  to 
Prince  John's  expedition  to  Ireland  in  the  year  1185. 
In  his  history  of  the  Conquest,  we  have  in  fact  the 
narrative  of  the  first  twenty  years  of  English,  or 
rather  Norman,  rule  in  Ireland.  From  that  narrative 
I  shall  hereafter  draw  very  largely  ;  I  shall  only  now 
call  your  attention  to  one  statement  in  it  which  has 
excited  no  small  controversy.  In  the  sixth  chapter 
of  the  second  book  of  the  Conquest,  he  publishes  the 
bull  of  Pope  Adrian  granted  to  Henry  II.  in  1155, 
making  over  Ireland  to  that  prince,  in  order  that,  as  it 
proceeds,  "  King  Henry  might  labour  to  extend  the 
borders  of  the  Church,  teach  the  truths  of  the  Christian 
faith  to  a  rude  and  unlettered  people,  and  root  out  the 
weeds  of  wickedness  from  the  field  of  the  Lord." 
This  bull  and  the  statements  of  Giraldus  have  excited 
a  warm  controversy  among  Roman  Catholics.  In  the 
pages  of  the  Dublin  Review,  some  short  time  ago,  the 
opposing  views  were  very  vigorously  debated.  One 
party  boldly  gets  rid  of  the  difficulty  by  asserting  the 
bull  to  be  a  forgery,  relying  upon  the  fact  that  no  copy 
of  the  bull  has  been  found,  or  now  exists  in  the 
Vatican  archives.  They  do  not  like  to  admit  that  the 
Norman  invader  had  papal  sanction  for  his  action.  I 
am  perfectly  unprejudiced  in  this  matter,  but  I  am 
bound,  as  a  historian,  to  hold  that  the  case  of  the 
opponents  of  the  bull  is  very  weak.  Suppose  Adrian 
did  not  issue  this  bull,  and  that  Giraldus  and  all  the 
historians  of  the  period  conspired  to  foist  a  forgery  on 
the  public.  Still  they  are  in  no  better  case.  Pope  after 
pope,  legate  after  legate,  even  during  Henry  II. 's  reign, 


46  IRELAND. 


solemnly  proclaimed  the  papal  sanction  of  the  Norman 
conquest.  Alexander  III.  confirmed  Henry's  action. 
The  papal  legate  Vivianus  renewed  the  confirmation  at 
a  public  synod  in  1177.  Numerous  bulls  extant  with 
ourselves  in  Alan's  Register,  the  Crede  Mihi,  the  Liber 
Albus  and  Liber  Niger  of  Christ  Church,  and  in  the 
documents  published  by  the  Vatican  itself  some  twenty 
years  ago,  proclaim  the  same  thing.1  Objectors  argue, 
indeed,  that  the  document  is  not  now  to  be  found  in  the 
Vatican,  but  the  reply  is  absolutely  crushing.  Neither, 
according  to  Theiner,  is  any  document  dealing  with 
Ireland  to  be  found  there  earlier  than  1215, — which 
will  prove  that  no  bull  about  Ireland  was  issued  prior  to 
that  year ;  and  if  so,  what  becomes  of  the  papal  claims 
to  have  ruled  Ireland  long  before  the  English  came  at 
all  ?  Such  arguments  are  suicidal.  The  truth  is  that 
we  still  possess  many  bulls  issued  by  popes  about 
Ireland  all  through  the  reigns  of  Henry  II.  and  John, 
the  originals  of  which  have  been  lost  from  the  Vatican. 
Ussher's  Sylloge  will  show  you  bulls  issued  to  Laurence 
O'Toole ;  Mason's  History  of  St.  Patrick,  the  work 
called  Chartce  Privilegia  et  Immunitates,  published  by 
the  Irish  Record  Office,  embody  others  unknown  to  the 
present  Vatican  Archives.  The  lapse  of  time,  war, 
rebellion,  carelessness,  plunder,  all  these  combine  to 
reduce  the  number  of  documents  in  any  ancient  reposi- 
tory, and  they  will  amply  account  for  the  loss  of  the 
Vatican  copy  of  Adrian's  bull. 

'  Cf.  I'ctera  Monuincnla  Jlihcrnoriun  ct  Scotoruni,  by 
A.  Theiner  (Rome:  printed  at  the  Vatican  press,  1864).  On  p.  2 
of  that  volume  will  be  found  the  letters  of  Pope  Honorius  III., 
the  fourth  of  which,  dated  January  i/th,  1217,  is  headed 
"  Archiepiscopo  Dublinensi,  ut  rebelles  Hibernos  ad  obedien- 
tiam  Regis  Anglian  redire  compellat  ;  "  while  on  the  previous 
paye  there  are  notices  of  several  letters  from  Innocent  III., 
specially  Nos.  136  and  137,  which  are  equally  strony 


THE  HISTORIAN  OF  THE  CONQUEST.  47 


Lastly,  Giralclus  had  abundant  means  to  satisfy  him- 
self as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  document.  He  lived  for 
years  at  Rome,  he  had  continual  access  to  the  papal 
registers,  which  he  carefully  investigated,  and  it  will 
require  something  more  than  a  priori  presumptions  to 
convince  us  that  a  document  publicly  proclaimed, 
boasted  of,  confirmed  within  twenty  years  of  its  original 
grant,  was  a  carefully-planned  swindle.  Men  when  they 
thus  argue  forget  the  standpoint  from  which  Giraldus 
must  have  viewed  Ireland.  To  an  enthusiastic  Irish- 
man now  it  may  seem  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and 
the  Normans  a  set  of  robbers  whose  one  desire  was  to 
get  possession  of  it.  To  Giraldus  and  the  men  of  his 
time,  Ireland  must  have  seemed  a  barbarous  out-of-the- 
way  island, — a  very  desirable  possession  indeed  for  the 
Geraldine  clique,  one  too  from  which  they  would  gladly 
have  excluded  the  Anglo-Norman  king,  but  even  in 
their  sight  a  spot  much  inferior  in  value  to  Poitou  or 
Normandy,  or  the  smallest  continental  fief.  Giraldus 
had  no  conceivable  motive  for  forging  this  bull  in 
favour  of  a  king  he  hated,  and  who  had  mortally  injured 
him.  We  therefore  conclude  that  though  our  historian 
may  have  been  vain,  foolish,  credulous,  yet  a  liar  he 
was  not  in  telling  us  that  the  foundation  of  Norman  and 
English  dominion  over  Ireland  was  laid  deep  and  fast 
in  the  grant  of  Pope  Adrian  IV.  To  the  facts  of  the 
first  Anglo-Norman  invasion  as  narrated  by  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  we  must  now  turn  our  attention. 


LECTURE  III. 

DERMOrS  INTRIGUES  AND  FOREIGN 
PREPARA  TIONS. 

IN  my  first  lecture  I  traced  the  blood-stained  and 
villainous  career  of  Dermot  MacMurrough  till  he 
fled  to  England  seeking  relief  and  armed  assistance. 
He  escaped  first  of  all  to  Bristol,  from  some  such  port  as 
Arklow  or  Wicklow,  landing  doubtless  somewhere  about 
St.  David's  Head,  as  that  was  the  nearest  point  to 
Ireland,  and  a  favourite  spot  for  travellers  to  land, — 
answering,  in  a  degree,  to  our  modern  Holyhead.  An 
Irishman  wandering  along  fehe  road  which  led  through 
Haverfordwest  towards  Bristol  was  no  unusual  sight 
at  St.  David's  in  the  days  of  the  twelfth  century. 
North  Wales  now  sees  most  of  the  Irish  people ; 
South  Wales  was  then  their  great  resort.  The 
physical  features  of  the  coast,  the  navigation  of  the 
times,  and  the  distribution  of  population,  accounted 
for  this.  South  Wales  is,  at  the  narrowest  point,  only 
some  forty-five  miles  from  Ireland.  A  favourable 
breeze  would  bring  a  boat  across  in  five  or  six  hours. 
I  lolyhead,  on  the  other  hand,  is  sixty-four  and  Carnarvon 
some  seventy-five  miles  from  Dublin.  Bristol  was  then, 
too,  a  great  city,  and  a  leading  commercial  emporium. 
North  Wales  had  no  centres  of  population  and  of  trade 
to  induce  a  traveller  to  wend  his  way  thither,  while 


DERMOTS  INTRIGUES.  49 


many  an  Irishman  found  his  way  to  South  Wales. 
Giraldus  Cambrensis,  whose  life  and  work  I  sketched 
in  my  last  chapter,  tells  us  many  a  story  illustrating 
the  active  commerce  which  existed  from  earliest  times 
between  Ireland  and  Wales.  Some  of  them  are 
mythical,  and  all  are  very  amusing.  An  early  Irish 
saint  is  said  to  have  ridden  his  horse  over  the  sea  from 
Wales  to  Ireland,  and  to  have  imported  bees  with  him, 
which  previously  were  unknown  in  our  flowery  island. 
Giraldus  relates  many  a  tale  to  the  disadvantage  of  our 
countrymen  of  his  own  age.  If  a  scoundrel  or  an  im- 
postor is  to  be  produced  on  the  stage  of  history,  if  he 
is  not  a  Cistercian  monk  he  is  sure  to  be  an  Irishman, 
priest  or  layman.2  Thus  in  the  Speculum  Ecclcsice*  he 
tells  a  story  which  casts  a  vivid  light  upon  the  state  of 
the  Welsh  Church.  An  Irish  presbyter  passed  over  to 
Wales.  He  married  a  Welshwoman,  by  whom  he  had 
a  son,  who  became  a  monk.  The  Irish  priest  was  not 
satisfied  with  one  Welsh  wife.  He  had  a  second  (the  first 
being  still  alive),  by  whom  he  had  another  son,  who  also 
became  a  monk.  The  Irish  priest,  notwithstanding  his 
moral  laxity,  was  a  fine  preacher,  and  captured  the 
hearts  of  his  Welsh  audiences — Welshmen  being  to  this 
day  great  lovers  of  sermons — by  his  flowery  eloquence. 
His  sermons  were  not,  however,  like  those  of  which  a 
modern  Irish  pulpit  orator  boasted,  saying  that  he  never 
knew  before  he  began  what  he  was  going  to  preach  about. 

1  Sec  the  articles  "  Domhnog  "  and  "  Molagga  "  in  the 
Dictionary  of  CJiristian  Jiiograp/iy ;  Girald.  Camb.  opp. 
(Rolls  Series),  iii.,  394,  396;  Rev.  R.  Walsh's  Fin  gal  and 
its  Churches,  p.  35  (Dublin  :  1888). 

-  It  is  one  of  the  numerous  inconsistencies  of  Giraldus  that, 
while  he  used  the  Celtic  race,  Welsh  and  Irish  alike,  for  his 
own  purposes,  he  never  wearies  of  sneering-  at  them  and 
exposing  their  many  weak  points. 

;i  Opp.,  t.  iv.,  p.  161-67. 

4 


50  IRELAND. 

This  Irish  priest,  if  not  strict  in  morals,  was  careful  in 
preparation  for  the  pulpit.  He  wrote  out  his  sermons 
at  full  length,  committed  them  to  memory,  and  then 
carefully  preserved  the  manuscripts.  Hereby  hangs 
our  tale.  The  son  of  the  first  wife  was  an  ambitious 
character,  embracing  within  himself,  as  Giraldus  puts 
it,  the  vices  of  both  races,  the  Welsh  and  the  Irish. 
He  was  a  born  intriguer  too.  He  intrigued  as  a  monk 
against  his  abbot,  deprived  him  and  caused  himself  to 
be  substituted  in  his  room.  He  intrigued  as  an  abbot 
against  his  brother  abbots,  gaining  rule  ever  over  a 
richer  convent,  till  at  last  he  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  epis- 
copal office  itself.  With  this  end  in  view  he  became  a 
sycophant  of  the  ruling  prince  of  Wales,  flattered  him, 
and  even  descended  to  the  vile  methods  of  denying  his 
own  birth  and  asserting,  contrary  to  the  testimony  of 
his  brother,  and  of  his  mother,  that  he  was  an  ille- 
gitimate member  of  the  prince's  family.  Like  many 
a  bad  man  he  succeeded,  however;  the  prince  yielded 
to  the  claims  of  kindred, — as  the  Celts  ever  have 
done,  even  if  the  kinship  be  not  the  most  creditable, — 
and  nominated  him  to  the  vacant  bishopric,  when  he 
capped  his  audacity  and  his  wickedness  by  preaching 
his  father's  old  sermons,  thus  gaining  the  reputation 
of  a  magnificent  and  devoted  pulpit  orator.  We  can 
scarcely  wonder  that  the  worthy  archdeacon's  verdict  is 
— Mini  igitnr  Jionn'nis  impudentia.  Wondrous  was  the 
man's  audacity. 

I  wish  to  impress  this  fact  upon  you  strongly.  When 
Dermot  sought  Wales  he  sought  no  unknown  or  foreign 
land.  He  sought  a  country  with  which  communication 
constant  and  helpful  had  been  kept  up  for  centuries, 
and  specially  for  the  previous  century  and  a  half.1 

1  The   communication  between    South    Wales    and    Ireland 


HE  K  MOTS  INT Kf  CUES.  51 

Dermot's  forefathers  and  his  Danish  allies  had  been 
much  more  closely  involved  in  the  history  of  the 
Norman  conquest  of  England  and  the  tragic  struggles 
of  Edward  the  Confessor,  of  Harold,  and  of  William 
the  Conqueror  than  is  usually  believed.  Mark  how 
this  came  about.  The  kingdom  of  Lcinster  was 
always  bounded  by,  and  even  at  times  embraced,  the 
great  Danish  settlements  of  Dublin,  Waterford,  and 
Wexford.1  These  places  formed  harbours  of  refuge 


has  always  been  very  constant,  and  was  specially  so  in  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  From  South  Wales  Christian- 
ity in  all  probability  passed  over  to  Ireland.  The  earliest 
traditions  of  the  Irish  Church  represent  St.  Finnian  of  Clonard 
as  spending  thirty  years  at  Menevia  under  St.  David  (cf.  Diet. 
Christ.  Biog. ,  ii.,  518).  Dr.  Petrie  was  so  struck  with  the 
Christian  antiquities  of  Wales  that  he  expressed  himself  thus 
to  Lord  Adare  in  a  letter  dated  24th  October,  1849  :  "  I  suspect 
you  got  Christianity  in  South  Wales  long-  before  we  got  it  in 
Ireland,  and  also  that  we  are  indebted  to  you  for  it  "  (cf.  Petrie's 
Life,  by  W.  Stokes,  M.I).,  p.  365).  The  works  of  Giraldus 
offer  many  proofs  of  the  frequent  intercourse  between  Wales 
and  Ireland.  Marriages  were  frequent  between  the  chiefs  and 
their  families.  Ireland  was  the  favourite  refuge  of  Welsh 
princes  obnoxious  to  English  sovereigns  (cf.  Unit  y  Tyzvy- 
sogion,  in  Rolls  Series,  p.  53,  where  we  find,  in  1087,  a 
Prince  Rhys  retreating  into  Ireland.  Cf.  for  other  similar 
cases,  p.  61,  A.n.  1096  ;  p.  63,  A.I).  1097).  Irish  fleets  were 
often  hired  to  intervene  in  Welsh  quarrels,  as  in  A.D.  1143. 
See  I.e.,  pp.  165,  167  ;  cf.  p.  41,  where  we  have  an  account  of 
the  North-men  of  Dublin  capturing  Griffith,  son  of  Llywelyn, 
a  prince  of  South  Wales.  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  Welsh  Itine- 
rary, p.  350  (Holm's  ed.),  mentions  a  Gruffydh,  son  of  Rhys  ap 
Theodor,  prince  of  South  Wales,  about  1113.  This  man  was 
for  years  concealed  in  Ireland  from  the  power  of  Henry  I. 
Giraldus  in  the  same  Itinerary  mentions  many  points  of 
practice  and  organisation  wherein  the  Welsh  and  Irish 
Churches  were  identical,  as  in  the  matter  of  crosiers,  bells, 
torques,  trumpets,  the  Culdce  order,  lay  abbots,  hereditary 
benefices,  and  reverence  for  St.  Patrick  (see  Brut  y  Tyvyso- 
gion ,  p.  43,  and  notes  on  pp.  33,  34  above). 

1  These  places  were  in  the  twelfth  century  considerable 
trading  towns.  They  were  certainly  as  large  and  important 
as  Bristol.  There  were  mints  at  Dublin,  Waterford,  and 


52  IRELAND. 


where  fugitive  English  rebels  found  safety  and  succour. 
Every  student  of  English  history  knows  the  story  of 
Harold,  son  of  Earl  Godwine,  the  brave  antagonist  of 
William  the  Conqueror,  who  fell  when  leading  the 
English  against  the  Norman  invaders  at  the  Battle  of 
Hastings.  A  few  years  earlier,  when  Norman  influence 
was  paving  the  way  for  the  conquest  of  1066,  and 
throwing  its  toils  and  nets  round  the  feeble  Edward  the 
Confessor,  Earl  Godwine  and  his  sons  were  found  to 
bar  the  road.  In  1051  they  were  exiled  therefore. 
Godwine,  the  father,  was  driven  to  Flanders ;  Harold 
and  his  brothers  fled  to  Bristol,  secured  a  ship  lying 
there  at  anchor,  and  sailed  to  Dublin.1  The  great- 
grandfather of  this  very  Dermot,  King  of  Leinster, 
concerning  whom  our  tale  runs,  received  them  and 
furnished  them  with  troops  for  an  invasion  of  England.2 
That,  mark  you,  was  just  a  hundred  and  ten  years 


Limerick  long  prior  to  the  English  invasion,  and  even  prior 
to  the  year  1000.  See  Simon's  and  Lindsay's  works  on  Irish 
coinage.  From  the  Pipe  Roll  accounts  for  the  year  1172  we 
learn  that  there  were  large  wine  merchants  in  Waterford.  In 
that  year  ^40  was  paid  to  local  merchants  for  wine  for  the 
king's  use  when  he  landed.  Multiply  that  by  twenty,  to 
represent  the  changed  value  of  money,  and  I  think  you  would 
find  it  difficult  to  get  ^800  worth  of  claret  in  Waterford  to-day. 
•  '  The  Danish  kings  of  Dublin  seemed  to  have  known  and 
imitated  the  coinage  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  In  Lindsay's 
Coinage  of  Ireland,  pp.  14,  15,  is  a  description  of  coins 
belonging  to  Ifars  III.  and  to  Ecmargach,  kings  of  the  Dublin 
Danes  from  1050  to  1064,  on  which  the  type  both  of  obverse 
and  reverse  is  exactly  that  of  the  Confessor.  On  p.  17  of  the 
same  volume  there  will  be  found  an  account  of  the  coinage  of 
Askel  MacTorquil,  Prince  of  Dublin,  from  1159.  He  became 
feudatory  to  Dermot  MacMurrough.  If  the  inferior  princes 
produced  such  neat  coinage  as  therein  described,  the  superior 
princes,  their  lords,  must  have  been  something  more  than  mere 
barbarians. 

-See  O'Donovan's  genealogy  of  Dermot  MacMurrough  in 
the  Annals  of  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1052. 


DERAIOrS  INTRIGUES.  53 


before  Dermot's  exile.  Sixteen  years  later — that  is,  in 
1068 — the  same  process  was  repeated.  Harold  was 
dead  indeed,  but  his  sons  kept  up  the  hereditary  hostility 
to  the  Normans.  William's  hand  was  then  heavy  upon 
England,  and  he  narrowly  watched  the  west  and  south- 
west of  the  country, — Devon  and  Somerset, — where 
Harold's  influence  was  specially  strong,  owing  to  his 
vast  estates  in  these  counties.1  In  1068  Devonshire, 
Somerset,  and  Cornwall  were  in  fact  completely  inde- 
pendent of  the  Conqueror,  and  as  yet  had  never  owned 
his  sway.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  Harold's  mother 
and  Harold's  three  sons  were  assembled  at  Exeter, 
which  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  against  the  Norman 
invader.  The  attempt  was,  however,  all  in  vain. 
William  crossed  from  Normandy,  marched  to  the  west, 
and  after  a  severe  struggle,  captured  Exeter.  Harold's 
mother  and  her  grandsons  succeeded  in  making  their 
escape,  and  the  young  men  fled  in  panic  flight  to 
Dublin,  where  King  Dermot  and  the  Ostmen  of  our  city 
again  received  them,  furnished  them  with  assistance, 
and  in  fifty-two  vessels  sailed  to  attack  Bristol."  The 
Bristol  men  did  not  love  the  Normans,  but  they  had 
still  less  love  for  wild  Irish  kerns  and  plundering  Irish 
Danes.  So  they  rose  up,  fought  valiantly,  and  repelled 
their  attack.  The  leader  of  the  English  on  that  occa- 
sion was  a  notable  person.  His  name  was  Eadmoth. 
He  had  been  Master  of  the  Horse  to  Harold,  and 
had  been  faithful  to  his  house  in  days  gone  by.  He 
was  a  pni'lent  man,  however,  and  wise  in  his  generation. 


1  Freeman,  iv.  140-58. 

3  The  authorities  about  this  alliance  of  Harold  and  his  sons 
with  Kinir  Dermot  are  Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  ii.,  pp. 
!5.3-55>  .^.S-JQ.  ,387.  596-98;  iv-  J58-65,  224;  App.  S.  and 
DD.  ; — Seyer's  Memorials  of  Bristol,  t.  i.,  eh.  iv. 


54  IRELAND. 

He  watched  with  a  keen  glance  the  course  of  politics. 
He  saw  in  what  direction  the  tide  of  success  was 
tending.  He  allowed  no  vain  sentiment  to  blind  his 
eyes  to  stern  facts ;  and  he  changed  sides,  therefore, 
just  at  the  very  nick  of  time,  and  was  consequently  one 
of  the  few  west  country  Englishmen  admitted  to  favour 
and  permitted  to  retain  their  estates  by  the  victorious 
conqueror.  A  successful  renegade  is,  however,  always 
the  most  bitter  against  the  party  he  has  left,  as  we 
oftentimes  still  see.  No  one  can  ever  hate  a  hereditary 
foe  with  the  bitter  feeling  cherished  by  the  injurer 
towards  the  injured  ;  and  Eadmoth  naturally  became  the 
most  vigorous  opponent  of  the  sons  of  Harold,  whose 
father's  bread  he  had  for  long  time  eaten.  So  vigorous, 
indeed,  was  Eadmoth's  resistance  that  he  was  slain  at 
the  head  of  the  Somerset  peasantry  rising  in  opposition 
to  the  Leinster  men  and  Danes  who,  in  the  heedless 
license  of  invasion,  were  ravaging  and  plundering 
districts  which  otherwise  would  have  been  favourable 
to  their  cause.  This  was  the  last  invasion  of  England 
from  Ireland.  Mark  its  date,  for  it  is  important.  It 
took  place  in  the  June  of  1069.  The  Bristol  river  then 
for  the  last  time  saw  a  fleet  of  hostile  Irishmen  sailing 
beneath  the  little  chapel  of  the  Irish  saint,  St.  Brendan, 
which  then  crowned  its  heights.1  But  Bristol  men  and 


1  St.  Brendan  was  called  the  Navigator,  and  was  a  favourite 
patron  of  sailors.  He  was  connected  equally  with  Wales  and 
Ireland.  lie  was  the  founder  of  Clonfert,  in  the  county 
(iahvay.  His  Acts,  published  by  Cardinal  Moran  in  1872, 
from  the  './her  Kilkcnniensis  in  Primate  Marsh's  Library, 
Dublin,  tell  the  story  of  his  wandering's  in  the  Western  Ocean 
in  search  of  Paradise.  See  the  Diet.  Christ.  Biog.,  t.  i., 
p.  53^,  where  Bishop  Forbes  makes  a  curious  mistake  in 
placing  Clonfert  in  the  county  Longford,  while  it  is  actually 
tar  away  in  (iahvay.  For  a  description  of  St.  Brendan's 
chapel  and  hermitage  at  Bristol  see  Nicholls,  and  Taylor's 


DERMOTS  INTRIGUES.  55 

Leinster  men  and  Dublin  city  formed  connexions  in 
these  wars  and  intrigues  which  have  a  most  important 
bearing  on  the  story  of  the  conquest  of  Ireland  and 
the  invasion  of  Strongbow.  I  must  ask  you  to  follow 
me  a  little  into  detail  on  this  point.  I  shall  try  and 
make  them  as  little  burdensome  as  possible.  I  must 
ask  you  to  remember,  as  the  central  figures,  Dermot 
the  elder,  of  1066,  and  Eadmoth,  at  first  Harold's 
follower  and  afterwards  his  foe  and  that  of  his  family. 
The  descendants  of  Dermot  MacMurrough  and  the 
descendants  of  Eadmoth  retained  the  friendship 
originally  cemented  in  the  days  of  Harold's  power. 
Dermot  MacMurrough  the  younger,  of  Strongbow's 
time,  was  great  grandson  of  Dermot  of  Harold's  and 
William's  time.  Dermot  was  expelled  from  Ireland 
in  August  1166.  He  was  attended  by  Morice  Regan, 
his  secretary,  valet,  and  personal  attendant.  That 
man,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  wrote  a  most 
interesting  account  of  the  wanderings  and  efforts  of  his 
master,  which  has  been  worked  up  into  the  celebrated 
Anglo-Norman  poem  concerning  the  conquest  of  Ire- 
land. In  that  poem  we  are  told  that  Dermot  sailed  to 
Bristol  with  more  than  sixty  ships.1  Morice  Regan  is 
true  to  his  native  instinct.  He  cannot  allow  that  his 
king  and  master  tied  in  any  low  or  ignominious  manner. 
Even  in  flight  the  honour  of  the  MacMurroughs  must 
be  maintained,  and  the  fugitive  prince  represented  as 
travelling  with  a  convoy  fitted  for  a  triumphant  con- 
queror ;  though  in  all  probability  he  escaped  in  a 

ttn'sfol  Past  and  Present,  ii. ,  121.  The  chapel  was  thoroughly 
Irish  in  its  dimensions,  measuring  only  27  feet  by  16.  An 
anchorite's  cell  was  attached,  as  at  St.  Doulough's  near 
Dublin,  and  at  l'\>re,  in  county  \Vestmeath.  A  cashel,  or  stone 
fortification,  120  feet  in  diameter,  enclosed  the  whole. 
1  See  Anglo-Norman  Poem,  ed.  Wright,  p.  12. 


56  IRELAND. 


common  fishing  smack.  With  a  favourable  wind 
Dermot  soon  reached  Bristol,  and  took  up  his  lodgings 
at  the  house  of  Robert  Harding  at  St.  Austin's. 

Now  it  is  to  this  point  I  would  specially  direct  your 
attention,  as  a  most  striking  illustration  of  the  historical 
accuracy  of  this  ancient  poem.  Like  all  our  ancient 
Irish  chronicles,  this  Anglo-Norman  poem,  though 
based  on  the  evidence  of  an  eye-witness,  has  suffered 
depreciation  at  the  hands  of  people  who  regard  all  Irish 
history  as  worthless  lies  ;  and  yet  the  more  critically  it 
is  investigated,  the  more  closely  it  is  compared  with  the 
testimony  of  contemporaneous  annals,  the  more  amply 
will  its  authority  and  accuracy  be  established.  Just 
take  this  one  point  alone,  for  it  is  towards  it  I  have 
been  hitherto  working  up.  "  lie  took  up  his  abode," 
says  Morice  Regan,  "in  the  house  of  Robert  Harding, 
at  St.  Austin's."  No  historian  treating  of  this  topic 
has,  so  far  as  I  know,  noticed  that  Robert  Harding 
was  a  celebrated  character  of  those  times,  famous 
in  the  Bristol  annals,  and  intimately  connected  with 
Irish  history  as  I  have  depicted  it.  It  was  not  by 
chance  King  Dermot  took  up  his  residence  with  this 
man  at  St.  Austin's,  for  their  families  had  been 
connected,  either  as  friends  or  foes,  for  more  than 
a  hundred  years.  Let  me  tell  the  story  of  Robert 
Harding,  and  you  will  easily  see  how  this  came  about. 
This  Harding  was  the  grandson  of  Kadmoth,  who  had 
fought  first  beside  Dermot's  great-grandfather  and  then 
against  Dermot's  great-grandfather,  and  had  been  killed 
by  him  in  one  of  the  numerous  struggles  and  wars 
connected  with  the  Norman  conquest.  I  have  already 
told  you  how  Harold's  sons  ravaged  Bristol  and 
Somerset  and  Devon,  with  the  help  of  Dermot  the 
elder,  King  of  Leinster  and  of  Dublin,  about  TO/O. 


DERMOTS  INTRIGUES.  57 


They  were  defeated  by  Eadmoth,  Harold's  own  most 
trusty  follower,  who  had  made  his  peace  with  William 
the  Conqueror.  Eadmoth  had  considerable  estates  in 
Somerset,  but  he  was  a  wise  man,  and  he  saw  that 
commerce  was  opening  out  new  and  wider  fields  for 
the  attainment  of  wealth.  He  built  therefore  a  house  in 
Bristol,1  engaged  in  trade,  and  was  Reeve,  or  Mayor 
as  we  should  say,  of  Bristol  when  he  fell  in  1068, 
repelling  the  attack  of  the  Leinstermen.  He  had  a  son, 
Robert  Harding,  who  followed  his  footsteps,  continued  to 
accumulate  wealth,  and  also  attained  the  office  of  Reeve 
of  Bristol.  This  Robert  Harding  was,  like  his  father,  a 
prudent  man.  He  came  of  a  fighting  race,  but  he  did  not 
care  to  imitate  them.  lie  thought,  and  thought  rightly, 
that  war  was  not  a  paying  profession,  and  is  therefore 
somewhat  scornfully  described  by  a  chronicler  of  that 
age,  William  of  Malmesbury,  as  shrewd  and  litigious, 
"more  used  to  whet  his  tongue  in  suits  of  law  than 
wield  his  weapons  in  war."  Ead moth's  grandson  was 
Robert  Fitz,  or  son  of,  Harding.  He  maintained  the 
traditions  of  his  father  and  grandfather  throughout  a 
very  long  life.  He  was  born  in  1085.  He  died  in  1170, 
and  succeeded  in  founding  a  family  which  still  con- 
tinues to  flourish  among  our  highest  nobility,  and  still 
cherishes  among  its  names  that  of  its  original  founder, 
this  Bristol  merchant,  Robert  Fitz-Harding.  He  married 
a  wife  named  Eva,  who,  for  aught  we  know,  may  have 
been  an  Irishwoman  of  King  Dermot's  own  family, 
for  Danish,  and  afterwards  Anglo-Norman,  princes  and 
nobles  often  married  the  daughters  of  Irish  chieftains. 


1  The  Hardings  lived  in  a  great  stone  house,  with  an  exten- 
sive garden  attached,  oil  the  south  side  of  Baldwin  Street  in 
Bristol.  The  foundations  of  it  were  discovered  in  1823.  See 
Nicholls  and  Taylor,  I.e.,  t.  L,  p.  58. 


58  IRELAND. 

Robert  Fitz-Harding  became,  in  his  turn,  Reeve  of 
Bristol,  traded  diligently,  and  added  to  his  hereditary 
wealth.  He  purchased  estates  too  ;  was,  like  his  grand- 
father, a  wise  politician,  noted  the  certain  failure  of  King 
Stephen  and  his  anarchical  rule  in  the  first  half  of  the 
twelfth  century,  sided  with  Henry  II.,  and  when  that 
prince  came  to  the  throne  in  1 154,  our  Bristol  merchant 
was  rewarded  for  the  help  he  had  rendered  by  the  gift  of 
the  fief  of  Berkeley,  previously  held  by  one  of  Stephen's 
supporters.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  present  earldom 
of  Berkeley,  which  holds  its  honours  and  traces  its 
descent  from  this  Bristol  trader,  and  if  you  look  into 
Sir  Bernard  Burke's  Peerage,  you  will  find  his  name  of 
Fitz-Harding  still  perpetuated  in  that  distinguished 
family.1  Robert  Harding  imbibed  in  another  respect  the 
spirit  of  the  age.  The  Norman  conquest  of  England 
inaugurated  an  age  of  church-building.  Bristol  as  yet 
possessed  no  great  church.  So  the  wealthy  Reeve  deter- 
mined to  rectify  the  omission,  and  in  1 140  he  founded  the 
Church  of  St.  Augustine,  or  St.  Austin,  dedicated  to  the 
Holy  Trinity  and  commonly  called  Christ  Church.  In 
this  fact  I  trace  a  proof  of  Robert  Harding's  connexion 
with  Dublin  thirty  years  before  Dermot  sought  his 
protection.  Ancient  Dublin  and  ancient  Bristol  were 
like  one  another  in  one  important  point.  They  were 
each  built  on  a  hill,  with  an  open  space,  or  Carfax,  on  the 
top.-  Christ  Church  Place  in  Dublin  answers  to  the  Carfax 

1  Sec  Berkeley  MSS.,  Abstracts  from  Smyllis  Lires  of  the 
Berkeley's,  ed.  T.  I).  Fosbroke  (London  :  1821),  and  Seyer's 
Memorials  of  Bristol,  t.  i.,  chap,  iv,  G.  T.  Clark's  Mali- 
(cral  Military  Architecture,  t.  i.,  p.  229-39,  skives  much 
interesting  information  about  Berkeley  Castle  and  the  origin 
of  that  family. 

-  See  Historic  Towns  (lt  Bn.-tol"),  ed.  \V.  Hunt,  p.  7:  "  On 
the  summit  of  the  lull  four  streets  still  meet,  forming-  a  Carfax 


I)  EK  MOT'S  INTRIGUES.  59 

or  square,  which  occupies  the  top  of  the  Bristol  hill.  On 
one  side  of  it  to  this  clay  stands  Robert  Harding's 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  afterwards  changed,  like 
our  own  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  from  an  Augus- 
tinian  priory  into  a  cathedral,  when  Bristol  was  made 
the  seat  of  a  bishopric  under  Henry  VIII.  Dublin 
is  traditionally  regarded  as  owing  the  foundation  of 
St.  Werburgh's  Church  to  its  Bristol  connexion. 
Bristol  seems  to  me  to  owe  its  cathedral  of  Christ 
Church  to  Robert  Harding's  trading  expeditions  to 
Dublin,  where  he  saw  a  Cathedral  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  already  a  century  old  when  he  laid 
the  foundations  of  his  own  pious  erection.1 

{quatre  votes),  and  these  divide  the  four  ancient  quarters  of 
the  town — the  parishes  of  St.  Mary-lc-Port,  Trinity  or  Christ 
Church,  St.  Ewen's,  and  All  Saints." 

1  On  this  topic  of  Harding-  and  Bristol  Cathedral,  see  the 
History  of  Bristol  by  Nicholls  and  Taylor  (Bristol:  1881)  ; 
Ricart's  Kaleudar  (Camden  Soc.  :  1872)  ;  Dugdale's  Monasti- 
cou,  vi.,  363  ;  Seyer's  Memorials  of  Bristol,  i.,  462-80.  Christ 
Church,  Dublin,  was  originally  a  cathedral  with  secular 
canons  attached.  This  was  its  earliest  constitution  under  the 
Danish  princes.  The  twelfth  century  was  marked  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  reformed  Augustinian  order  into  England  and 
Ireland.  St.  Laurence  OToole  made  Christ  Church,  Dublin, 
an  Augustinian  establishment.  Robert  Harding  erected 
Christ  Church,  Bristol,  in  connexi  n  with  the  same  order. 
Christ  Church,  Dublin,  was  regarded  as  a  cathedral  prior  to 
the  Reformation  ;  see  the  Calendar  of  Ciirist  Church  Deeds  in 
the  Appendix  to  the  Report  for  1888  of  the  Irish  Deputy  Keeper 
of  the  Records  (Dr.  Latouche),  p.  42,  No.  42.  It  is  rather 
curious  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  not  maintained 
any  Chapter  corresponding  to  Christ  Church,  though  she  has 
maintained  one  corresponding  to  St.  Patrick's.  It  is  usually 
said  that  this  has  happened  because  the  Cathedral  Chapter, 
Dean,  Canons,  etc.,  was  established  by  Henry  VIII.  These 
scruples  did  not  always  exist,  however,  as  Dr.  Latouche's 
Report  shows.  On  p.  122  we  have  a  bull  of  Pope  Innocent  X. 
calendared,  ordering  in -1644  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop 
of  Dublin  to  admit  Patrick  Chaell  as  Dean  of  Holy  Trinity 
Church.  King  James  II.  also  ousted  the  legal  Dean  and 
intruded  a  Roman  Catholic. 


60  IRELAND. 

Let  us  return  to  Harding's  own  career.  Life  had 
been  intensely  prosperous  for  our  worthy  citizen.  He 
had  accumulated  wealth  and  honours,  and  had  been 
spared  to  a  green  old  age.  Robert  Harding  and  his 
wife  determined  that  they  would  devote  the  remainder 
of  their  days  to  the  monastic  life  ;  and  so  Harding 
entered  his  own  Priory  of  the  Holy  Trinity  as  a  Canon, 
while  his  wife  founded  the  Magdalen  convent,  where 
she  dwelt  till  her  death  in  1173.  You  can  easily 
understand,  therefore,  why  it  was  that  Dermot  sought 
refuge  at  St.  Austin's  with  Robert  Harding.  lie  was 
an  ancient  friend,  possibly  allied  by  marriage.  I  larding' s 
was  a  potent  name  in  Bristol,  and  a  still  more  potent 
influence  with  Henry  II.,  the  monarch  whose  cause  he 
had  championed  in  days  of  darkness,  and  with  whom 
he  might  now  fairly  claim  some  influence.  Dermot, 
then,  displayed  his  usual  prudence,  when  driven  from 
Ireland,  in  resorting  first  of  all  to  Bristol  and  lodging 
with  Robert  Harding  at  St.  Austin's.1 

Dermot  did  not  tarry  over-long  at  Bristol.  He 
doubtless  made  use  of  Harding's  purse,  received 
letters  from  him,  and  then  in  the  course  of  the  autumn 
and  winter  of  1 166-67  sought  Henry,  away  in  Southern 
France.  Under  other  circumstances,  Dermot's  visit 
would  have  been  most  welcome  to  Henry  II.  The 
very  first  year  of  his  reign  had  seen  the  conquest  of 
this  country  mooted  in  the  cabinet  of  that  prince. 
About  Michaelmas,  1155,"'  Henry  held  a  council  at 

1  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  earliest  list  of  Dublin 
citi/ens  occurs  "  fohn,  son  of  Jordan,  son  qf  Harding."  He 
may  have  been  a  son  of  one  of  Robert  Harding's  numerous 
sons  by  Kva,  his  wife.  See  '•  History  of  Hristol"  in  Historic 
Towns  series,  p.  25  ;  and  the  list  itself  in  Gilbert's  Municipal 
Documents  (  Rolls  Series),  pp.  ^-.|8  ;  cf.  the  preface,  pp.  vii-x. 

-  See  Chronicles  of  Henry  //. ,  t.  ii.,  p.  xxxvii  (pref. ), 
Rolls  Series. 


DERMOT'S  INTRIGUES.  61 


Winchester,  when  he  proposed  to  conquer  Ireland 
and  confer  it  as  a  fief  on  his  youngest  and  favourite 
brother  William.  The  project  was  then  abandoned 
owing  to  the  counsel  of  the  Empress  Matilda,  who 
clearly  saw  that  her  son  had  quite  enough  on  his 
hands,  if  order  was  to  be  restored  in  England  after 
Stephen's  anarchy,  if  the  Welsh  were  to  be  restrained, 
and,  above  all,  the  continental  dominions  of  the  prince 
were  to  be  protected  from  their  numerous  foes.1  He  laid 
aside  the  project  for  a  time,  indeed,  but  made  provision 
for  a  future  attempt  by  procuring  from  Pope  Adrian  IV. 
the  famous  bull  by  which  Ireland  was  transferred  to 
Norman  dominion.  And  now  the  advent  of  King 
Dermot  would  have  seemed  the  very  opportunity  he 
desired.  Henry  II.  probably  knew  and  had  had 
dealings  with  King  Dermot  beforehand.  In  1164 
and  1165  the  Welsh  rose  in  rebellion  against  King 
Henry.  He  marched  from  Chester  to  crush  the 
insurgents  of  North  Wales,  engaging  a  fleet  of  com- 
bined Danes  and  Leinstermen  to  attack  them  in  the 
rear."  Henry  sought  Dermot's  aid  in  1164.  Two 


1  Henry's  task  was  a  tremendous  one.  The  restoration  of 
order  in  England,  the  destruction  of  the  robber  castles  which 
threatened  the  peace  and  security  of  the  nation,  the  reform, 
or  rather  the  creation,  of  a  judicature,  the  expulsion  of  the 
roving  armies  of  Flemish  mercenaries  which  dominated  the 
whole  country,  these  alone  would  have  been  sufficient  work 
for  the  ablest  prince,  and  yet  Henry  had  much  more  to  do. 
The  continental  dominions  of  the  English  Crown  were  largely 
responsible  for  the  gross  neglect  shown  towards  Ireland  from 
the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries.  All  thought  was 
centred  on  the  Continent,  none  was  left  for  Ireland.  Just  as 
in  later  times  the  interest  of  William  III.  in  Holland  and 
of  the  early  Georges  in  Hanover  prevented  all  attention  to 
English  and  Irish  difficulties. 

-  Chronicles  of  Ilcni'y  II.,  t.  ii.,  pref. ,  pp.  xlii,  Ixviii.  See 
Brut  y  Tywysogion,  pp.  201-3  (l^olls  Series).  \\'e  learn 
from  this  Welsh  chronicle,  p.  6r,  that  the  Irish  were  leagued 


62  IRELAND. 

years  later  Dermot  seeks  Henry's  court  with  a  similar 
petition  on  his  side.  But  Henry  had  just  then  quite 
enough  to  do  without  interfering  in  Irish  squabbles. 
The  quarrel  with  Thomas  a  Becket  was  waxing  fiercer 
and  fiercer.  The  French  king  and  Henry  were  locked 
in  deadly  conflict.  His  mother,  too,  hostile  as  ever 
to  a  further  extension  of  the  empire  in  a  westerly 
direction,  was  still  alive.  Henry  away  in  France 
would  not  trouble  himself  about  Dermot's  misfortune. 
And  Dermot  could  get  nothing  but  fair  words  and 
promises,  and  a  few  presents  which  the  Pipe  Roll 
of  the  twelfth  of  Henry  II.  notices  as  bestowed  on 
certain  Irishmen.1  Henry,  however,  gave  Dermot 
letters  patent  authorising  him  to  employ  assistance 
wherever  he  could  find  it.  Dermot  returned  from 
France  back  to  Robert  Harding  in  the  spring  or 
summer  of  1167,  spent  a  month  with  him,  and  finally 
concluded  an  agreement  with  Richard,  commonly 
called  Strongbow,  Earl  of  Striguil,  son  of  Gilbert,  Earl 
of  Pembroke. 

Richard  Strongbow  was  one  of  those  nobles  who 
rose  to  great  eminence  and  power  under  Stephen, 
when  every  man  did  whatsoever  seemed  right  in  his 
own  eyes,  and  the  only  law  which  secured  observance 
was  the  law  of  the  sword.  Henry  II.'s  strong  arm 
struck  down  all  such  disturbers,  and  among  the 

with   the   Anglo-Normans — or  the  French,   as  this  chronicle 
always  calls  them — against  the  Welsh  as  early  as  1096. 

1  Cf.  Giralcl.  Camb.,  Expugnatio,  lib.  i.,  cap.  ii.;  Morice 
Regan,  pp.  15-17  ;  Chronicles  of  Henry  //.,  t.  ii.,  p.  Ixxiv 
(Rolls  Series).  The  Pipe  Rolls  of  12  Men.  11.,  as  published 
by  the  Pipe  Roll  Society,  t.  ix.,  pp.  88,  117,  have  notices  of 
several  transactions  with  Irishmen  in  1165—1166.  There 
appears,  for  instance,  a  payment  of  ^4  "]S.\if.  to  the  Chancellor 
of  the  King  of  Ireland  by  the  king's  writ,  but  without  any  hint 
of  the  reason  of  it. 


DRRMOTS  INTRIGUES.  63 

rest  despoiled  Strongbow  of  his  father's  title  and 
estates,  permitting  him  to  reimburse  his  losses  by 
establishing  for  himself  a  castle  on  the  Welsh  frontier. 
Strongbow  was  just  the  man  for  Dermot's  purposes. 
Spendthrift,  bankrupt  in  money  and  reputation,  reck- 
less, skilful,  Dermot's  was  an  enterprise  which  pro- 
mised to  retrieve  his  fortunes  and  make  him  a  prince 
independent  of  Henry  II.,  for  Dermot  promised  to 
bestow  on  him  his  daughter  and  make  him  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  kingdom  of  Leinster.1  Dermot  sought 
help  in  other  quarters  too.  The  neighbourhood  of 
the  Bristol  Channel  had  been  utilised  by  Henry  II. 
as  the  Romans  used  the  Danubian  principalities  a 
thousand  years  before.  He  had  planted  along  the  Welsh 
coast  bands  of  military  colonists.  At  his  accession 
he  found  his  kingdom  overrun  by  Flemish  mercenaries. 
He  quietly  transferred  them  to  south-west  Wales,  and 
diverted  their  energies  from  wasting  and  plundering 
England  to  harrying  and  watching  the  ever-rebellious 
and  revolting  Welsh.-  Among  them,  doubtless,  Dermot 
found  old  soldiers  of  fortune  anxious  for  battle  and 
plunder  as  of  yore.  He  passed  over,  therefore,  into 
South  Wales  when  he  thought  of  returning  to  Ireland. 
He  visited  Rhys  ap  Gryffith,  who  welcomed  him  with 


1  Moricc  Regan's  Anglo-Norman  Poem,  ed.  F.  Michel, 
pp.  17,  18  (cf.  Wright's  preface,  pp.  xii,  xiii).  G.  T.  Clark's 
Mediaeval  Military  Architecture,  t.  i.,  pp.  in  — 15,  gives 
many  details  about  Strongbow's  Welsh  castles  and  those  of 
his  followers,  many  of  whom  became  famous  in  the  Irish 
invasion.  These  castles  were  often  rude  structures  of  earth  and 
timber,  like  the  Irish  castles  of  the  same  period.  Cf.  Beau- 
fort's essay  on  Irish  Architecture  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy,  t.  xv.,  pp.  161-65,  and  note  p.  30  above. 

-  The  Flemish  settlements  in  South  Wales  were  begun,  ac- 
cording to  Holinshed,  by  William  the  Conqueror,  and  enlarged 
under  Henry  I.  (cf.  Giraldus  Camb.,  \\7els/i.  Itinerary,  lib.  i., 
cap.  xi.). 


64  IRELAND. 


genuine  Celtic  hospitality,  releasing  at  his  request 
a  knight  half  Norman  and  half  Welsh  by  descent,  a 
certain  Robert  Fitz-Stephen,one  of  Nesta's  many  sons  by 
her  numerous  husbands,  and  destined  afterwards  to  play 
an  important  part  in  Irish  history.1  From  the  prince's 
court  Dermot  passed  on  to  St.  David's  Head,  then  the 
favourite  port  of  embarkation  for  Ireland.  There 
he  found  the  Geraldine  faction  in  full  sway.  David 
Fitz-Gerald  was  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  and  Maurice 
Fitz-Gerald,  his  brother,  and  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
his  nephew,  were  hanging  about  the  episcopal  palace. 
The  Fitz-Geralds  in  fact  swarmed  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  St.  David's,  and  did  good  service  to  their  Norman 
suzerain,  Henry  II.,  in  keeping  the  unruly  Welsh  in 
due  subjection.  Dermot  purchased  the  whole  faction 
by  promising  them  the  town  of  Wexford, — which  he 
had  never  possessed,  it  being  the  property  of  the 
Danes.  He  exercised  a  kind  of  liberality  oftentimes 
since  imitated, — he  was  very  liberal  and  generous  in 
bestowing  other  people's  property.  Listen  to  the  ac- 
count of  the  transaction  given  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
writing  less  than  twenty  }'ears  after  the  event : 
"  Through  the  mediation,  therefore,  of  David,  Bishop 
of  St.  David's,  and  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald,  a  contract 
was  entered  into  that  Dermot  should  grant  to  Robert 
and  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald  the  town  of  Wexford, — with 
two  adjoining  cantreds  of  land  to  be  held  in  fee  ;  in 
consideration  whereof  the  said  Maurice  and  Robert 
engaged  to  succour  him  in  recovering  his  territories, 


1  These  princes  of  South  Wales  were  closely  allied  with 
the  Irish  princes,  and,  as  I  have  already  noted,  often  sought 
refuge  among  them  when  hard  pressed  by  the  Anglo-Normans. 
On  the  release  of  Fits-Stephen  at  Dermot's  intercession,  see 
Tywysogion  (Rolls  Series),  A.D.  1168,  p.  207. 


DERMOT'S  INTRIGUES.  65 


as   soon  as    the  winds  were   favourable  and  the  first 
swallow  appeared,"  that  is,  in  spring. 

The  summer  of  1167  and  the  winter  and  spring  of 
1 1 68  passed  away  in  these  preparations.  Dermot  now 
became  home-sick.  As  Giraldus  puts  it,  "  Snuffing  from 
the  Welsh  coast  the  air  of  Ireland,  he  inhaled  the  scent 
of  his  beloved  country."  Two  years,  then,  exactly,  from 
the  time  of  his  exile  he  embarked  at  St.  David's,  on  the 
1st  August,  1 1 68  ;  and  sailing  with  an  easterly  wind,  in  a 
few  hours  arrived  at  Glasscarrig,  a  small  village  on  the 
Wexford  coast,1  and  secreted  himself  for  the  winter 
among  his  adherents  in  an  Augustinian  abbey,  at  his 
ancient  family-seat  of  Ferns,  where  the  ruins  of  an 
Anglo-Norman  castle  still  mark  the  site  of  his  primitive 
palace. ~  The  interest  in  our  tale  now  shifts  from 


1  Glasscarrig  is  about  twenty  miles  north-east  of  Wexford,  and 
ten  miles  east  of  Ferns.  The  village  has  almost  entirely  dis- 
appeared. Glasscarrig  must  always  have  been  a  very  dangerous 
landing-place  save  in  fine  summer  weather.  Courtown  harbour, 
some  five  miles  to  the  north,  has  only  been  made  accessible  to 
small  vessels  at  great  expense.  I  saw  Glasscarrig  and  Courtown 
on  a  stormy  day  last  October  (1888),  when  no  vessel  could  pos- 
sibly approach  the  coast  to  land  a  passenger.  A  road  still 
runs  from  it  to  Ferns.  There  are  ruins  of  an  abbey  at  Glasscarrig 
built  into  the  walls  of  a  cowhouse.  Cf.  Mr.  Wakeman's  report 
in  Ordnance  Survey  Correspondence  in  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
County  Wexford,  Letters,  t.  i.,p.  65. 

-  The  village  of  Ferns  is  even  still  redolent  of  Dermot  Mac- 
Murrough.  The  castle,  called  after  him,  is  evidently  an  Anglo- 
Norman  structure,  built  in  the  thirteenth  century  by  some  of 
Strongbow's  heirs.  It  stands  doubtless  on  the  site  of  Dermot's 
Celtic  Dun.  Its  plan  was  somewhat  like  that  of  Harlech  castle 
in  Wales.  There  was  a  central  courtyard.  At  the  four  corners 
stood  lofty  drum  towers  connected  by  strong  curtain  walls. 
One  of  these  towers  remains  perfect.  In  the  second  storey  is 
a  chapel  with  a  beautifully  groined  roof,  where  the  groining 
springs  from  consoles.  See  a  description  of  this  castle  in 
Ordnance  Survey  Correspondence,  in  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
County  Wexford,  Letters,  t.  i.,  p.  77  ;  Extracts,  t.  ii.,  p.  544. 
The  view  from  this  tower  towards  Mount  Leinster,  and  the 

5 


66  IRELAND. 

England  to  Ireland,  and  centres  in  the  county  Wexford, 
a  district  which  to  this  day,  in  its  ruins,  inhabitants, 
and  even  in  its  language,  retains  many  traces  of  the 
Anglo-Norman  invasion.  The  winter  of  1 168-69  passed 
as  winters  usually  passed  in  Ireland  in  those  times. 
The  ancient  Irish  inverted  the  order  of  their  descend- 
ants. The  long  nights  are  famous  in  the  annals 
of  modern  Irish  disturbances  for  many  a  sad  tale 
of  assassination  and  bloodshed.  The  long  nights  and 
the  short  days  and  the  tempestuous  weather  in  ancient 
times  gave  the  inhabitants  of  this  land  their  only 
season  of  peace.  The  circumstances  of  the  case  at 
once  explain  the  reason  why.  The  resources  of 
civilisation  have  benefited  and  blessed  mankind  in  a 
thousand  ways,  but  they  have  also  made  crime  easier 
and  more  terrible.  Good  roads,  railways,  telegraphs, 
have  made  life  more  convenient  and  enjoyable,  but 
they  have  also  served  to  help  the  criminal.  If  a  party 
of  moonlighters  wish  to  attack  a  house  twenty  or 


passes  through  which  an  invading  foe  from  Meath  or  Ossory 
would  come,  is  very  fine  and  commanding.  In  the  churchyard 
Dermot's  grave  is  shown.  It  was  once  covered  with  a  plain 
stone  cross,  of  Celtic  pattern.  The  upper  portion  has  been 
broken  off,  removed,  and  utilised  as  a  head-stone  over  another 
grave.  This  broken  part  is  called  Dermot's  pillar.  In  the 
cathedral  there  lies  a  fine  mediaeval  recumbent  figure  of  St. 
Mogue,  or  Maedhog,  the  reputed  founder  of  the  See.  See 
Bassett's  Wexford  Directory,  p.  332.  Dermot  founded  the 
Augustinian  Abbey  of  Ferns  in  A.D.  1158,  its  deed  of  founda- 
tion being  witnessed  by  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  then  Abbot  of 
Glendalough  (see  Archdall's  Monasticon  Hibernicum,  p.  743). 
The  ruins  of  this  abbey  still  exist  a  couple  of  hundred  yards 
east  of  the  cathedral  in  the  ancient  episcopal  demesne.  It 
is  evidently  very  ancient ;  the  chapel  is  of  the  regular  Celtic 
type,  very  small  and  square,  while  attached  is  a  tower,  square 
at  the  bottom  and  then  becoming  round  after  a  few  feet,  to- 
gether with  the  ruins  of  a  cloister  or  hall  of  an  English  type. 
Sec  Ordnance  Survey  Correspondence  as  above,  Wexford, 
Letters,  t.  i.,  p.  215;  Extracts,  t.  ii.,  p.  546. 


DEK  MOT'S  INTRIGUES.  67 


thirty  miles  distant,  a  good  road  serves  their  purpose 
as  well  as  that  of  the  merchant  or  honest  labourer. 
Seven  hundred  years  ago  the  roads  of  Ireland  ran  in  the 
main  upon  the  same  tracks  as  at  present,  but  they  were 
mere  passes  through  forests  and  bogs  which  the  Sep- 
tember rains  rendered  impassable  till  the  following  spring 
opened  them  again.  Some  of  these  passes  still  remain 
in  their  primitive  state.  Would  you  see  one  of  them, 
often  used  doubtless  by  Dermot  and  his  men,  go  to 
the  head  of  Glenmalure  valley  in  Wicklow  and  traverse 
the  pass  which  leads  from  that  wild  glen  to  the  towns 
of  Donard  and  Dunlavin.  It  is  a  magnificent  walk  over 
the  shoulder  of  Lugnaquilla.  It  proceeds  up  by  the  Ess 
water-fall  to  the  height  of  two  thousand  feet,  and  then 
descends  beneath  the  beetling  cliffs  of  the  North  Prison 
and  beside  the  head  waters  of  the  Slaney  into  the  vale  of 
Imail.  I  have  traversed  it  on  a  beautiful  day  at  the  end 
of  a  fine  April,  and  yet  it  brought  me  well  within  the 
snow  line,  and  was  in  parts  almost  as  impassable  as 
the  Slough  of  Despond  itself.1  Such  were  all  the  roads 
of  Ireland,  and  of  Wales  too,  in  those  times.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  winter  was  then  Ireland's  time  of  halcyon 
peace,  when  even  such  a  noted  fugitive  as  Dermot 
MacMurrough  could  lie  hidden,  safe  and  secure  from 
the  attacks  of  the  injured  O'Rourke  of  Breifny  himself. 
With  the  spring  of  1169  the  work  of  invasion  began. 
The  first  arrivals  were  Fitz-Geralds,  headed  by  Robert 
Fitz-Stephen,  whom  Dermot  had  hired  the  previous 
summer.  His  small  army  seems  to  have  been  com- 
posed entirely  of  those  Flemish  military  colonists 
whom,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  Henry  II.  had 


1  This  pass  is  pictured  most  accurately  in  Hall's  Picturesque- 
Ireland,  vol.  ii. 


68  IRELAND. 


settled  along  the  coast  line  of  South  Wales  to  keep 
the  restless  chiefs  of  that  country  in  order.  The 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  speak  in  very  contempt- 
uous tone  of  the  first  invaders  under  date  of  1169. 
Here  is  their  entry  :  "  The  fleet  of  the  Flemings 
came  from  England  in  the  army  of  MacMurchadha, 
i.e.  Diarmaid,  to  contest  the  Kingdom  of  Leinster  for 
him  ;  they  were  seventy  heroes,  dressed  in  coats  of 
mail ;  "  and  then  we  are  told  the  Irish  princes  "  set 
nothing  by  them."  Giraldus  Cambrensis  gives  their 
numbers  more  exactly  ;  as  thirty  knights  of  his  own 
kindred  and  sixty  others  clothed  in  mail,  and  three 
hundred  archers.1  They  sailed,  according  to  tradition, 
in  two  vessels  called  respectively  Bag  and  Bun, 
names  which  are  now  preserved  in  the  designation  of 
the  promontory  of  Wexford  where  they  first  landed. 
That  promontory  lies  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  penin- 
sula, terminated  by  the  famous  Hook  tower  which 
intervenes  between  Waterford  and  Wexford  harbours, 
and  forms  one  side  of  Bannow  Bay.  The  town  of 
Bannow  has  often  been  called  the  Irish  Herculaneum. 
A  town  existed  there  three  centuries  ago  which  now 
exists  no  longer,  because  it  has  been  covered  up  by  the 
drifting  sands  of  that  stormy  coast,  though  the  names 
of  its  streets  still  survive  on  the  quit-rent  rolls.  Mark 
and  observe  one  point  however.  The  choice  of  Bannow 
Bay  as  their  landing-place  proves  to  demonstration, 
were  demonstration  needed,  that  the  men  of  Bristol 
and  the  Welsh  of  St.  David's  had  the  most  close  and 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  geography  of  the  coast 
of  Ireland.  I  do  not  think  that  any  proof  is  neces- 
sary to  show  the  active  intercommunication  between 


1  Girald.  Camb.,  Expitg.  i.,  3. 


DER  MOT'S  INTRIGUES.  69 

Wales  and  the  east  and  south-east  of  Ireland  at  this 
period.  The  Welsh  annals,  as  the  Brut y  Tywysogion, 
agree  with  the  Irish  in  describing  the  frequent  visits 
of  Irish  fleets  to  Wales,  and  of  Welsh  fleets  to 
Ireland,  with  various  purposes,  peaceful  or  hostile, 
from  A.D.  900  to  1 200.  Fitz-Stephen  chose  Bannow 
Bay  because  it  was  the  only  haven  open  to  him  for  two 
great  reasons,  the  one  political,  the  other  physical.  He 
wished  to  form  a  junction  with  Dermot  at  Ferns  :  the 
only  ports  fitted  for  the  purpose  were  Dublin,  Wicklow, 
Arklow,  Wexford,  and  Waterford,  all  of  them  at  that 
time,  as  their  very  names  indicate,  in  the  power  and 
jurisdiction  of  the  Northmen,  and  hostile  to  Dermot. 
Bannow  was  the  only  port  open  to  the  invader,  because 
too  insignificant  for  Danish  notice.  Fitz-Stephen  must 
have  had  accurate  information  as  to  the  facts  of  Danish 
dominion  when  he  made  his  selection.  Physical  reasons, 
too,  determined  him  in  his  choice.  Wexford  was  shut 
against  him.  Waterford  was  hostile,  as  Strongbow  a 
year  or  two  later  learned  to  his  cost.  Between  Water- 
ford  and  WTexford,  Bannow  was  the  only  port  permitting 
the  approach  of  a  troopship,  even  as  small  as  those  used 
in  the  twelfth  century.  The  coast  between  Carnsore 
Point  and  Wexford  Harbour  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
Tower  of  Hook  at  the  entrance  of  Waterford  Harbour 
on  the  other,  is,  perhaps,  the  most  dangerous  in  the 
British  Islands.  Take  up  the  sailing  directions  for  the 
coast  of  Ireland,  issued  by  the  Admiralty  in  1885,  and 
study  the  portion  relating  to  the  coast  of  Wexford,  and 
then  you  will  see  how  wise,  prudent,  and  practically 
experienced  was  Fitz-Stephen  when  he  chose  Bannow  as 
his  port  of  disembarkation.  The  Saltees,  the  Tuscar 
Rock,  and  dozens  of  other  dangers  line  the  whole  coast, 
and  have  proved  fatal  to  multitudes,  notwithstanding  all 


70  IRELAND. 

our  modern  improvements.1  The  Welsh  sailors  and 
pilots  knew  their  business  and  proved  their  experience 
when  they  led  Fitz-Stephen  to  the  promontory  of  Bag 
and  Bun  Head. 

I  have  now  shown  you  how  Dermot  organized 
his  revenge  ;  I  have  brought  the  Fitz-Geralds  to  the 
shores  of  Ireland  and  introduced  them  to  Bannow  Bay. 
But — very  fittingly,  and  quite  in  character  with  their 
mission — there  is  a  grand  controversy  concerning  the 
exact  spot  of  Bannow  Bay  where  they  landed.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall,  in  their  Picturesque  Ireland,  took  one 
side  ;  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society  took  the 
opposite  side.  The  details  of  that  discussion,  if  given 
in  full,  would  only  weary  and  confuse.  A  brief  refer- 
ence to  them  will  introduce  us  to  the  next  stage  of  the 
invasion,  and  also  help  us  to  realise  the  perilous 
circumstances  of  the  first  adventurers. 


1  For  a  description  of  this  dangerous  coast,  with  its  numerous 
shoals  and  rocks,  see  Sailing  Directions  for  the  Coast  of 
Ireland,  part  i.,  1885,  published  by  the  Admiralty,  pp.  66-87. 


LECTURE  IV. 
THE  INVASION  OF  THE   GERALDINES. 

POPULAR  impressions  are  hard  to  dissipate.  They 
grow  with  a  nation's  growth  and  strengthen  with 
a  nation's  strength,  till  at  last  they  become  part  and 
parcel  of  a  nation's  faith.  Such  a  national  delusion 
now  comes  before  us.  Henry  II.  gets  the  credit  of 
planning  the  invasion  of  Ireland  and  of  carrying  out  his 
purpose.  To  the  popular  mind  his  is  the  one  dominant 
figure,  seconded  and  supported  indeed  by  Strongbow,  but 
ordering  and  directing  all  by  his  commanding  influence. 
Such  is  the  popular  view — a  testimony  doubtless  to  the 
force  of  Henry's  character,  but  yet  a  notion  founded  upon 
a  total  misconception.  The  original  invaders  of  Ireland 
were  Welshmen,  Flemish  mercenaries,  Norman-Welsh 
knights;  they  were  anything  at  all  but  pure  Normans, 
sent  by  royal  authority  and  subject  to  royal  rule.  The 
first  invaders,  again,  were  private  speculators,  adven- 
turers like  the  earliest  settlers  in  India  who  founded 
the  East  India  Company,  or  the  earliest  settlers  in  the 
regions  of  the  North  who  founded  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  or  like  those  other  Companies  we  have  heard 
much  of  during  the  last  few  years,  the  Congo  Company, 
or  the  Borneo  Company.  The  first  invaders  were  Fitz- 
Geralds,  and  belonged  to  the  Geraldine  clan.  The  next 
invaders  were  Strongbow  and  his  allies.  It  was  not 
till  Henry  II.  beca-ne  jealous  of  the  progress  and  success 


72  IRELAND. 

of  his  lieges  that  he  condescended  to  turn  aside  from 
the  more  exciting  and  notable  field  of  European  politics 
to  the  consideration  of  Irish  affairs.  This  lecture  will 
be  devoted  to  the  object  of  illustrating  and  explaining 
the  action,  character,  and  conduct  of  these  first  private 
invaders  of  Ireland;  and  will  embrace  the  years  1169 
and  1170,  when  the  foundations  of  Norman  dominion 
were  laid  by  these  adventurers.  The  poem  of  Morice 
Regan  and  the  History  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  when 
compared  together,  enable  us  to  follow  almost  day  by  day 
the  warlike  deeds  of  the  earliest  Anglo-,  or  perhaps  I 
should  more  properly  say,  Cambro-Normans.  I  may 
indeed  here  repeat  what  I  have  already  stated,  that 
the  more  carefully  you  study  this  Anglo-Norman  poem, 
the  more  thoroughly  you  will  trust  it.1  It  is  evidently 
based  on  original  documents.  It  fixes  dates,  Church 
festivals,  mentions  the  precise  periods  during  which 
the  armies  reposed,  the  roads  they  took,  the  rivers  they 
crossed,  and  many  other  topographical  details  which 
have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  editor,  Mr.  Wright,  who, 
being  an  Englishman,  had  none  of  that  local  know- 
ledge which  alone  would  have  cleared  up  the  difficulties 
of  the  narrative.  And  here  let  me  note  one  extraordinary 
piece  of  editorial  folly, — I  was  going  to  say,  of  Anglican 
wrongheadedness.  It  was  bad  enough  to  have  Morice 
Regan's  narrative  edited  and  Giraldus  Cambrensis  trans- 
lated by  a  man  who,  in  his  notes  on  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
identifies  Kinsale,  a  town  in  Cork,  with  Kinselagh,  an 
Irish  tribe  in  Wexford;2  but  then,  when  the  Government 


1  Sec  for  a  description  of  it  the  note  on  p.  25. 

-  See  \Yright's  edition  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  (Bonn's 
Series),  pp.  222,  224.  I  have  given  in  a  succeeding  chapter 
another  laughable  instance  of  a  similar  mistake  made  by  the 
editor  of  Roger  Hoveden,  in  the  same  series.  Three  very 
similar  names  often  occur  in  early  Anglo-Irish  history,  which 


THE  INVASION'  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  73 


were  officially  publishing  an  edition  of  the  collected 
works  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  to  hand  over  the  editing 
and  annotating  of  his  Topographia  Hibernice  and  of  his 
Expugnatio  Hibernice  to  another  Englishman  equally 
ignorant  of  Ireland,  was  one  of  those  thoughtless, 
hopelessly  stupid  actions  which  help  to  explain  the 
failure  of  English  policy  in  this  country.  One  can 
scarcely  imagine  how  even  officialism  of  the  densest 
character  could  pass  over  Irish  scholars  like  Bishop 
Reeves,  Mr.  Hennessy,  Mr.  James  Graves,  or  Mr. 
Gilbert  in  favour  of  any  Englishman,  no  matter  how 
learned  in  textual  criticism,  where  a  history  and  a 
geography  dealing  with  Ireland  were  concerned.  What 
would  be  said  of  Irishmen,  supposing  they  wanted 
Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  England  edited,  if  they 
committed  the  work  to  a  resident  in  Donegal  who  had 
never  seen  England  and  was  totally  ignorant  of  the 
English  tongue?  Yet  the  exact  parallel  of  this  has  been 
perpetrated  in  the  publication  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis' 
works  in  the  Rolls  Series.  The  mere  scholarly  work 
has  been  indeed  admirably  done.  We  have  the  best 
text  presented  to  us,  but  we  get  no  antiquarian,  geogra- 
phical, or  historical  assistance  whatever,  simply  because 
the  editor  had  none  to  give. 

Let    us  return    to    the    narrative    of    the    invasion. 


should,  however,  be  carefully  distinguished,  viz.,  Kinsale,  a 
town  in  Cork  ;  Kinsellagh,  a  tribe  and  tribal  division  com- 
prehending the  county  of  Wexford,  the  barony  of  Shilelagh 
in  Wicklow  and  Kavanagh's  County,  in  Carlow  (see  Grace's 
Annals,  published  by  Irish  Arch.  Soc.  A.D.  1842,  p.  120)  ;  and 
Censale  or  Kennsalich  (now  Kinsaley,  near  St.  Uoulough's),  a 
village  and  parish  once  the  property  of  the  Torkils,  Danish 
princes  of  Dublin  before  the  arrival  of  Strongbow  (see  Dr. 
Latouche's  Report  on  Irish  Public  Records  for  1888,  p.  36). 
This  property  was  transferred  in  11/4  to  Christ  Church 
Cathedral  (cf.  D' Alton's  History  of  the  County  Dublin,  p.  219). 


74  IRELAND. 

Robert  Fitz-Stephen,  the  knight  whose  freedom  Dermot 
had  won  by  his  interest  with  Rhys,  Prince  of  South 
Wales,  arrived  about  May  1st,  1169,  with  three  ships, 
and  landed  either  at  the  promontory  of  Bag  and  Bun, 
where  his  name  is  still  perpetuated  on  the  ordnance 
map,  or  else  at  the  town  of  Bannow  across  the  bay.1 
With  him  came  another  descendant  of  Nesta,  Fitz- 
Stephen's  nephew,  Meyler  Fitz-Henry.  Next  day 
Maurice  de  Prendergast,  of  Haverfordwest,  arrived 
from  Milford  Haven  with  ten  knights  and  a  considerable 
body  of  archers.  They  landed  at  the  same  point.  It 
was  a  well-chosen  spot  for  two  reasons,  as  I  have 
already  briefly  noticed.  First,  from  a  sailor's  point  of 
view,  it  was  the  only  safe  spot  on  the  most  dangerous 
coast  of  Ireland,  the  ports  of  Waterford  and  Wexford 

1  The  Rev.  James  Graves  contended  strongly  in  favour 
of  Bannow  as  the  first  landing-place  of  the  invaders,  in  the 
Kilkenny  Archccological  Journal  (1849-51),  t.  i.,  p.  189; 
cf.  p.  194.  The  ruined  church  of  St.  Brendan  at  Bannow 
still  exists.  It  is  depicted  in  Hall's  Picturesque  Ireland, 
t.  ii.,  p.  153,  and  mentioned  in  a  deed  now  in  Cambridge 
University  Library,  dated  1245.  See  Kilk.  Arch.  Journal 
(1854-55),  t.  iii.,  p.  219.  This  Cambridge  deed  is  a  curious 
document,  showing  that  modern  difficulties  found  their 
counterpart  in  ancient  times.  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice  was 
Strongbow's  uncle,  and  one  of  his  companions  in  invasion. 
King  Dermot  gave  him  a  large  tract  of  land  between  Wexford 
and  Bannow.  Mountmaurice  bestowed  the  lands  upon  Christ 
Church,  Canterbury,  and  its  monks,  who,  however,  as  absentee 
landlords,  could  get  no  rents.  The  Canterbury  absentee 
monks  leased  them  therefore  to  the  resident  monks  of  Tintern 
Abbey  in  1245  at  an  annual  rent  of  ^4  6s.  Sd.  In  1318  the 
Tintern  Abbey  monks  redeemed  this  rent  by  a  payment  of  ,£100, 
— more  than  twenty  years'  purchase  of  the  same.  I  should 
imagine  the  present  landlords  would  be  very  glad  to  get  the 
same  rate  of  purchase  for  their  interest.  Tintern  Abbey  and 
all  the  leading  points  of  interest  in  the  district  of  Bannow  and 
Bag-and-Bun  are  pictured  in  the  second  volume  of  the  joint 
work  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall,  to  which  1  have  already 
referred.  Mrs.  Hall  had  special  opportunities  of  knowing  that 
neighbourhood,  as  she  was  a  native  of  Bannow. 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDTNES.  75 


being  unavailable.  Secondly,  from  a  military  and 
political  point  of  view,  it  divided  the  enemy's  forces,  cut 
off  the  Waterford  Danes  from  those  of  Wexford,  and 
opened  up  a  direct  road  to  the  north  of  the  county 
Wexford,  where  King  Dermot  was  lying  concealed. 
Even  to  this  day  the  nearest  railway  stations  to  Bannow 
for  Dublin  and  North  Wexford  are  Ballywilliam  and 
New  Ross,  towns  north  of  Wexford,  and  not  Wexford 
itself.  The  invaders  spent  some  ten  days  in  making 
preparations,  erecting  temporary  dwellings,  the  site  of 
Fitz-Stephen's  house  being  still  pointed  out.1  On  the 
nth  of  May2  Dermot,  then  at  Ferns,  received  a  letter 
from  Fitz-Stephen  announcing  their  arrival.  He  at  once 
despatched  his  favourite  son  Donall  Kavanagh,  following 
next  day  with  such  small  forces  as  he  could  i  muster. 
The  combined  armies  rested  for  a  night  at  the  coast, 
and  then  proceeded  to  Wexford,  some  twenty-five  miles 
distant.  Wexford,  as  the  Danes  called  it,  Lough 
Caiman,  as  the  Celtic  Irish  did,  had  been  from  the 
earliest  date  a  leading  Scandinavian  settlement.3  Its 
inhabitants  had  united  with  their  brethren  of  Dublin 
and  the  Celtic  Irish  in  resisting  the  tyranny  of  Dermot, 
and  they  now  unanimously  determined  to  oppose  him, 
though  aided  by  Welsh  and  Norman  mercenaries.  They 


1  See  Bassett's  Wexford  Directory,  p.  270,  and  Hall,  I.e., 
t.  ii.,  p.  148. 

-  See  O'Flaherty's  Ogygia,  pars,  iii.,  xciv. 

3  Wexford  presents  down  to  the  present  day  many  features 
manifesting  the  presence  of  the  Scandinavian  rovers,  specially 
in  its  topography.  Thus  we  find  Carnsore,  Greenore,  and 
Raven  Points  along  the  sea  coast.  The  castle  was  the  citadel 
of  the  town  even  in  Danish  times.  It  is  now  the  Militia 
barracks.  The  Danish  rath  was  replaced  by  a  Norman  castle 
erected  on  its  site  by  Geoffrey  de  Marisco,  after  the  embarka- 
tion of  Henry  II.  at  Wexford  in  the  spring  of  ii73>  See 
Bassett's  Wexford  Directory,  p.  67. 


76  IRELAND. 


met  in  conflict  outside  the  walls,  but  speedily  retired 
within  the  gates,  unable  to  resist  the  impulse  of  the 
mail-clad  knights.  Wexford  was  then  much  smaller 
than  it  is  now,  just  as  Danish  Dublin  was  a  very 
contracted  spot.  Even  still  the  crowded  and  narrow 
streets  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  where  two  vehicles 
can  scarce  pass,  like  those  of  our  own  city  round  Christ 
Church  Cathedral,  abundantly  testify  to  the  trust  reposed 
in  the  protection  of  the  Castle  and  the  narrow  circuit 
of  its  Danish  fortifications,  which  were  enlarged,  or 
rather  entirely  superseded,  in  the  fourteenth  century 
by  walls,  large  portions  of  which  still  remain.1  Behind 
these  fortifications  the  Danes  fought  boldly.  The 
Normans  advanced  to  the  attack,  but  were  repelled. 
Robert  de  Barry,  one  of  the  Fitz-Gerald  clan,  and 
elder  brother  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  himself,  led  the 
attack.  He  mounted  the  walls,  and  must  have  been 
sorely  discomfited  when  he  found  that  the  Danish 
Irish  did  not  fight  according  to  the  rules  of  war  as 
known  among  English  and  Norman  gentlemen.  A 
Wexford  man  beholding  the  portly  and  glittering  figure 
of  the  knight,  magnificent  with  helmet,  escutcheon, 
battle-axe,  and  shield,  took  deliberate  aim  with  a 
stone,  and  delivering  it  with  true  Irish  vigour  and 
accuracy,  hit  the  knight  upon  the  side  of  his  helmet 
with  such  force  that  he  fell  prostrate  into  the  town 
ditch  ;  a  blow  which  must  have  been  a  fearful 


1  The  present  walls  of  Wexford  were  erected  outside  the 
Danish  ramparts  in  the  fourteenth  century,  probably  in  the 
war  of  Bruce  in  Ireland,  when  the  Dublin  walls  were  likewise 
extended.  See  Bassett,  I.e.,  pp.  67-9.  It  is  a  great  pity  that 
we  have  no  really  good  county  history  of  Wexford.  It  could 
only  be  produced  by  some  local  resident.  But,  alas  !  in 
Ireland  the  enthusiasm  for  fox-hunting  swallows  up  all 
literary  taste. 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  77 


one,  as  his  brother  Giraldus  assures  us  that  sixteen 
years  after, — that  is,  just  when  he  was  writing, — his 
brother's  double  teeth  all  fell  out,  and,  still  more  mar- 
vellous to  relate,  that  new  ones  grew  in  their  place, 
though  he  must  have  been  then  a  man  of  middle  age. 
The  ignominious  fall  of  their  leader  so  disheartened 
the  allied  Norman  and  Leinster  men  that  they  at  once 
retired,  having  suffered  the  loss  of  eighteen  men,  while 
the  townsmen  had  lost  only  three.1  This  was  the  first 
battle  of  Wexford  fought  against  the  Normans,  and 
Robert  de  Barry  was  the  first  man-at-arms  struck 
down  and  wounded  in  the  Norman  invasion  of  Ireland.2 
The  Normans  now  turned  their  attention  to  the  har- 
bour of  Wexford  ;  and  the  Danes,  no  match  for  them 
in  the  open  field,  were  obliged  to  look  on  while  they 
burned  all  the  ships  which  lay  there.3  These  may, 
indeed,  have  been  for  the  most  part  fishing  boats,  but 
Giraldus  gives  us  an  incidental  notice  proving  that 


1  Morice  Regan's  poem,  lines  487-93,  gives  us  the  details 
of  the  assault  on  Wexford,  supplementing  the  narrative  of 
Giraldus  thus — 

"  La  cite  asailli  a  tute  sa  force 

Les  autre  pur  garir  lur  cors 

Sa  defendirent  par  defers. 

XVIII.  i  perdi  de  ces  Engleis 

A  ieel  saut  li  riche  reis, 

E  les  traitors  a  ieel  feiz 

No  pordirent  de  lur  que  treis." 

The  third  chapter  of  the  First  Book  of  the  Expugnatio 
of  Giraldus  may  be  compared  with  the  whole  passage  from 
which  I  have  just  given  an  extract.  This  Anglo-Norman 
poem  sadly  needs  re-editing.  Dr.  Atkinson,  Professor  of  the 
Romance  Languages  in  Dublin  University,  informs  me  that 
he  has  noted  numberless  errors  in  Wright's  edition  when 
compared  with  the  MS.  in  Lambeth. 

-  Girald.  Camb.,  Expug.,  i.,  4. 

3  The  harbour  of  Wexford  covers  an  enormous  space. 
When  the  tide  is  full  it  looks  like  an  inland  sea.  The  town  of 
Wexford  is  situated  on  a  hill  at  one  point  of  the  harbour,  but 


78  IRELAND. 

Wexford  commerce  even  then  embraced  a  cross- 
channel  trade  ;  for  the  Normans  having  found  there 
and  seized  an  English  ship  just  arrived  from  the  coast 
of  Britain  with  a  cargo  of  corn  and  wine,  a  band  of 
soldiers  rowed  out  and  seized  it.  The  sailors  slipped 
the  anchors  and  made  their  escape.  A  strong  westerly 
wind  was  blowing,  which  rapidly  carried  the  captors  out 
to  sea,  and  it  was  only  at  great  risk  and  after  a  long  pull 
in  their  boats  that  the  Norman  soldiers  regained  their 
friends.  The  night  brought  repose  to  both  parties,  and 
gave  the  Wexford  people  time  for  consultation.  They 
saw  clearly  enough  that  they  were  in  a  dangerous 
situation,  and  that,  notwithstanding  their  temporary 
success,  they  were  sure  to  be  defeated  in  the  long  run. 
So,  early  in  the  morning,  as  the  Normans  advanced  to 
the  attack  after  duly  hearing  Mass,  they  were  met  by 
two  bishops,  who  happened  to  be  in  the  town,  and  by 
some  of  the  leading  citizens,  with  proposals  of  surrender, 
which  were  accepted  ;  four  of  the  principal  townsmen 
being  delivered  as  hostages,  and  a  treaty  of  peace  duly 
signed  in  the  Abbey  of  Selsker,  now  a  prominent  ruin 
in  Wexford.1  The  town  and  the  two  cantreds  or 
baronies  of  Forth  and  Bargy  adjoining  the  city  were 


it  cannot  have  afforded  any  protection  to  ships  lying  in  the 
harbour,  exposed  as  it  was  to  attack  from  an  enemy  encamped 
beside  the  town.  See  the  description  of  Wexford  harbour  in 
the  Admiralty  Sailing  Directions  for  the  Coast  of  Ireland, 
Part  I.,  p.  85  (London  :  1885). 

1  Bassett's  IVexford  Directory,  p.  71,  has  a  long  descrip- 
tion of  Selsker  Abbey  ;  cf.  for  a  view  of  it  Hall's  Picturesque 
Ireland,  t.  ii.,  p.  173.  Its  origin  is  attributed  to  the  Danes, 
and  its  restoration  to  the  Roche  family.  An  interesting  tale 
hangs  thereby.  Sir  A.  Roche,  of  Artramount,  fell  in  love 
with  the  beautiful  daughter  of  one  of  the  burgesses.  His 
parents  sent  him  to  the  Crusades  to  cure  him  of  his  affec- 
tion. He  returned  after  some  years  to  claim  his  bride.  He 
found,  however,  that  she  in  despair  had  become  a  nun.  where- 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  79 

at  once  conferred  by  Dermot  upon  Fitz-Stephen  and 
Maurice  de  Prendergast  as  a  reward  for  their  assist- 
ance, and  it  is  a  strange  but  yet  a  simple  historical  fact 
that  these  baronies  are  still  inhabited  by  numerous 
descendants  of  these  original  Norman,  Flemish,  and 
Welsh  settlers,  transformed  in  many  cases  by  the 
magic  influence  of  Irish  air  into  the  most  extreme 
opponents  of  the  deeds  and  views  of  their  warlike 
ancestors.1 

I  have  bestowed  more  time  and  space  on  this  narra- 
tion of  the  capture  of  Wexford  than  I  can  spare  for 
some  other  warlike  achievements  of  the  first  invaders, 


upon  he  vowed  celibacy,  restored  this  abbey,  and  became  its 
prior.  Its  present  name  is,  of  course,  only  a  corruption  of  St. 
Sepulchre  ;  it  being  dedicated  in  honour  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
at  Jerusalem,  like  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Archbishops  of 
Dublin,  concerning  which  more  hereafter.  ArchdalPs  Mon- 
asticon,  p.  755,  calls  it  the  Priory  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  of 
Selsker.  A  synod  was  held  in  this  monastery  in  1240,  when 
canons  were  enacted  which  are  now  printed  in  Wilkins's  Co?i- 
cilia,  t.  L,  p.  681  ;  cf.  Ware's  Bishops  of  Ireland,  p.  440. 

1  On  the  baronies  of  Forth  and  Bargy,  their  inhabitants, 
dialect,  customs,  etc.,  see  Hall,  I.e.,  t.  ii.,  pp.  143-73  ;  Bas- 
sett's  Wexford  Directory,  p.  27  ;  Martin  Doyle's  Notes  and 
Gleanings  of  the  co.  Wexford  (Dublin  :  1868).  The  peculiar 
dialect  of  Forth  and  Bargy  may  be  studied  in  Poole's  Dialect 
of  Forth  and  Bargy,  edited  by  the  Rev.  W.  Barnes,  B.D. 
(the  Dorsetshire  poet),  London,  1867  ;  in  a  paper  by  General 
Valiancy,  Transactions  of  Royal  Irish  Academy,  t.  ii.  ;  in 
Fraser's  Statistical  Survey  of  Wexford,  A.]).  1807  ;  and  in 
an  essay  by  the  late  Dr.  Russell,  of  Maynooth,  in  the  first 
number  of  Atlantis,  A.D.  1858,  an  extinct  Dublin  literary  ven- 
ture of  that  period.  The  works  above  quoted,  together  with 
Walter  Harris's  Hibcrnica,  p.  21,  and  the  papers  on  Bannow 
by  Messrs.  Graves  and  Tuoiny  in  the  Kilkenny  Arch. 
Journalior  1849-51,  t.  i.,  pp.  187,  194,  afford  numerous  proofs 
that  the  present  inhabitants  are  direct  descendants  of  the  first 
Anglo-Norman  settlers.  Dr.  O'Donovan,  in  a  note  on  A.D.  1169 
in  the  Annals  of  Four  Masters,  says:  "The  editor,  when 
examining  the  baronies  of  Forth  and  Bargie  for  the  Ordnance 
Survey,  was  particularly  struck  with  the  difference  between 
the  personal  appearance  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  baronies 


8o  IRELAND 

because  I  felt  it  necessary  to  make  you  realize  how 
minute  is  our  information  concerning  the  movements  of 
the  earliest  Norman  invaders.  We,  in  fact,  know  just 
as  much  about  them  as  we  know  about  the  earliest 
achievements  of  William  the  Conqueror  after  the  battle 
of  Hastings,  as  a  very  cursory  examination  of  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  and  of  the  Anglo-Norman  poem  so  often 
quoted  will  amply  prove. 

Wexford  was  captured,  and  the  strength  of  resist- 
ance to  Dermot's  sway  in  the  south  of  Leinster  was 
thus  paralysed.  Dermot  and  his  allies,  leaving  a 
garrison  in  Wexford,  forthwith  marched  to  Ferns,  in 
the  north  of  the  county,  where  Dermot's  royal  resi- 
dence was  situated.  There  they  remained  three  weeks, 
healing  the  wounded,  and  recruiting  their  forces  from 
the  tribesmen,  who,  now  that  Dermot  showed  signs  of 
success,  flocked  in  crowds  to  his  banners  ;  for  it  is  the 
simple  fact  that  Ireland,  then  and  ever  since,  has  always 
been  a  land  where  nothing  succeeds  like  success,  and 
nothing  fails  so  completely  as  failure.  At  the  end  of 
three  weeks  Dermot  proposed  to  Robert  Fitz-Stephen 
and  Maurice  de  Prendergast  to  accompany  him  in 
an  attack  upon  Gillpatrick,  King  of  Ossory.1.  The 


and  those  of  O' Murphy's  country,  the  northern  baronies  of 
the  co.  Wexford.  The  Kavanaghs  and  Murphy s  are  tall  and 
often  meagre,  while  the  Flemings,  Codds,  and  other  natives  of 
the  baronies  of  Forth  and  Bargie  are  generally  short  and 
stout." 

1  Morice  Regan's  poem  is  fuller  and  more  accurate  than 
Giraldus,  in  the  details  of  the  military  movements  after  the 
capture  of  Wexford.  Giraldus  makes  the  combined  army  of 
Leinster  and  the  Normans  advance  at  once  to  the  attack  of 
Fitzpatrick,  Prince  of  Ossory.  This  would  have  demanded  a 
march  across  a  hostile  country  to  the  site  of  New  Ross,  and 
then  along  the  marshy  course  of  the  Nore  and  Barrow. 
Morice  Regan,  on  the  other  hand,  knowing  the  country  and 
its  roads,  brings  the  allied  forces  along  the  valley  of  the  Slaney 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  81 


Anglo-Norman  poem  of  Morice  Regan  and  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  pretend  to  give  the  speeches  which  were 
made  on  this  and  other  occasions  in  the  course  of  the 
invasion,  but  they  are  manifestly  fancy  orations,  com- 
posed by  the  authors  of  these  works  and  put  into  the 
mouths  of  the  speakers.  The  most  amusing  instance 
of  this  convenient  kind  of  oratory  is  the  speech  sup- 
posed to  have  been  uttered  by  Roderic  O'Conor,  King 
of  Connaught,  when,  in  the  course  of  this  summer  of 
1169,  he  had  assembled  an  army  to  attack  Dermot  and 
the  Normans.  Me  is  represented  by  Giraldus  (I.  vii.) 
as  addressing  a  very  spirit-stirring  oration  to  his  troops 
of  wild  Connaughtmen,  commencing  in  the  following 
high-pitched  strain  :  "  Right  noble  and  valiant  defenders 
of  your  country  and  liberty,  let  us  consider  with  what 
nations  and  for  what  causes  we  are  now  about  to  wage 
battle."  He  then  proceeds  to  pour  unbounded  abuse 
on  the  head  of  King  Dermot,  with  whom  he  unites  the 
Anglo-Normans.  "  Himself  an  enemy,  he  has  called  in 
our  greatest  national  enemy  ;  a  people  who  have  long 
aimed  at  being  lords  over  him  as  well  as  over  all  of  us." 
He  next  enlarges  upon  the  wickedness  of  the  King  of 


by  Enniscorthy  to  Ferns,  a  route  which  I  followed  last  year  on 
a  tricycle.  It  is  now  the  great  coach  road  from  Dublin  to 
Wexford,  and  must  have  existed,  though  in  a  rude  state,  in 
Dermot's  day  ;  for  the  great  roads  of  Ireland  have  always 
maintained  the  same  lines.  It  is  a  beautiful  road  for  a 
tricycle  trip,  passing  through  some  of  the  finest  Wexford  and 
Wicklow  scenery,  along  by  the  little  known  Blackstairs  and 
Mount  Leinster  Range,  varied  by  glimpses  of  the  Slaney. 
Morice  Regan's  words  arc — 

"  D'iloec  s'en  turne  li  Reis  Dermod 
Vers  Ferncz,  al  einz  qu'il  pout 
Pour  ses  naffrex  saner 
E  pur  ses  barons  sojorner. 
Treis  semeines  sojornout 
En  la  cite  li  Reis  Dermod. 


82  IRELAND. 

Leinster  in  provoking  internal  wars,  but  he  does  so  in  a 
style  and  language  which  would  scarcely  move  a  mob 
in  Galway,  Clare,  or  Tipperary  nowadays,  after  all  the 
efforts  of  the  national  system  of  education.  "  Mark, 
my  countrymen,  mark  well  how  most  states  have  been 
overthrown  by  civil  discord.  Julius  Caesar,  after 
having  twice  shown  his  back  to  the  Britons,  returned 
the  third  time  and  subdued  the  country  on  the  invita- 
tion of  Androgius,  who  was  a  victim  to  his  own  thirst 
for  revenge.  This  same  Julius  after  having  at  length 
conquered  the  western  parts  of  the  world,  ambitious 
of  supreme  power,  did  not  hesitate  to  bring  foreign 
nations  to  shed  the  blood  of  the  Roman  people  in  a 
worse  than  civil  war."  I  am  very  much  afraid  that  our 
Irish  public  men,  or  at  least  our  Irish  audiences  and 
their  literary  taste,  have  so  far  degenerated  that  an 
appeal  to  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar,  or  even  to  those  of 
Brian  Boru  or  Roderic  O'Conor  himself,  would  not  tell 
half  as  well  as  a  reference  in  one  part  of  the  country  to 
Derry,  Aughrim,  and  the  Boyne,  or  in  another  quarter  to 
the  stirring  times  of  '48,  or  an  apt  quotation  from  that 
historic  ballad,  "  Who  fears  to  speak  of  ninety-eight." 

In  treating  of  the  history  of  the  invasion,  we  may 
totally  disregard  the  speeches  put  into  the  mouths  of 
the  principal  actors  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis  or  by 
Morice  Regan,  and  fix  our  attention  on  their  deeds  alone 
as  narrated  by  them.  Dermot  proposed  first  of  all  to 
invade  Ossory  with  the  help  of  the  Normans.  Ossory  was 
at  that  period  a  leading  kingdom  of  Ireland,  though 
not  one  of  the  five  principal  divisions.1  It  bordered 

1  See  Journal  of  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society, 
t.  i.,  pp.  230-57,  for  two  articles  by  the  Rev.  J.  Graves  and 
Dr.  O' Donovan,  on  Ossory  and  its  tribes,  where  the  boun- 
daries of  the  kingdom  of  Ossory  are  described.  On  p.  249 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  83 


upon  Leinster.  The  kingdom  of  Leinster,  the  heredi- 
tary or  family  possession  of  Dermot  MacMurrough, 
embraced  the  east  of  Ireland  from  Dublin  to  Wexford, 
extending  westward  to  the  county  of  Kilkenny  and 
the  Queen's  County.  The  kingdom  of  Ossory  is  now 
represented  by  the  diocese  of  Ossory,  strictly  so  called, 
as  you  will  find  it  defined  in  Lewis's  Topographical 
Dictionary ;  for  I  must  here  repeat  what  I  stated  in  a 
previous  course  of  lectures,  that  the  best  idea  of  the 
ancient  kingdoms  and  principalities  of  Ireland  is  to 
be  derived  from  a  study  of  the  diocesan  boundaries, 
which  exactly,  correspond  with,  and  have  been  derived 
from,  these  ancient  secular  divisions.1  The  kingdom  of 
Ossory  extended  over  the  greater  portion  of  Kilkenny 
and  that  portion  of  the  Queen's  County  called  the 
Barony  of  Upper  Ossory.  And  now  mark  here  an 
illustration  of  the  tenacity  of  the  Celtic  race  and  of  the 
mixed  character  of  our  Irish  population  in  even  the  very 
highest  ranks.  The  nobility  of  Ireland  are  to  a  large 

O'Donovan  quotes  a  verse  from  O'Heerin's  topographical 
poem  (edited  by  himself  in  1862  for  the  Irish  Archaeological 
Society's  series  of  antiquarian  works)  p.  95,  defining  its 
limits  thus  : — 

"  Mac-Gilla-Phadraig,  of  the  Bregian  fort, 
The  land  of  Ossory  to  him  is  due 
From  Bladma  out  to  the  sea." 

That  is,  as  he  explains,  from  the  summit  of  the  Slieve  Bloom 
Mountains  in  the  Queen's  County  on  the  north,  to  the  meeting 
of  the  Three  Waters  opposite  Cheek  Point,  in  the  county 
Waterford,  on  the  south.  I  shall  usually  spell  the  formidable 
Celtic  name  Mac-Gilla-Phadraig  in  the  more  modern  form 
Fitz-Patrick.  About  Ossory  and  its  extent  a  note  by  O'Dono- 
van on  A.D.  1175,  in  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  and  the 
authorities  there  quoted,  should  also  be  consulted. 

1  See  Rev.  J.  Graves's  paper  on  Ancient  Ossory  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society,  t.  i.,  p.  231, 
where  he  states  that  the  rural  deaneries  of  Ossory  correspond 
to  the  tribes,  as  the  diocese  to  the  kingdom  of  that  name,  add- 
ing a  very  remarkable  illustration  of  his  view. 


84  IRELAND. 

extent  English  in  their  origin,  even  when  that  origin 
goes  back  to  the  twelfth  century,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Fitz-Geralds  of  Leinster  and  Munster.  Yet  many  even 
of  our  nobility  can  trace  themselves  back  to  Celtic 
chieftains,  and  notably  in  the  case  now  under  considera- 
tion. The  King  of  Ossory  in  1 169  was  one  Donnchadh 
Gillpatrick.1  His  family  is  now  represented  by  the 
Fitzpatricks  or  Gillpatricks,  who  enjoy  the  title  of  Castle- 
town  Barons  of  Upper  Ossory ;  and  I  saw  some  short 
time  ago  in  the  London  Times  a  letter  from  the  present 
holder  of  that  title,  in  which  he  deprecated  compulsory 
sale  of  Irish  estates  to  the  tenants  on  the  express  ground 
that  his  family  had  held  the  property  he  at  present 
possesses  for  the  last  one  thousand  years,  a  period 
of  uninterrupted  ownership  almost  without  parallel 
in  these  islands,  save  in  the  case  of  Church  lands.'-' 
Dermot  hated  this  Gillpatrick  of  Ossory,  and  with 
good  reason,  for  only  the  very  previous  year  he  had 
blinded  Dermot's  son,  "the  royal  heir  of  Leinster,"  as 
the  Four  Masters  call  him,  and  thus  deprived  the  King 
of  Leinster  of  all  hope  of  perpetuating  his  kingdom 
in  the  male  line,  blindness  being  a  fatal  bar  to  a 
tribal  election  to  sovereignty.3  Against  Donnchadh 


1  Donough  Gillpatrick  was  the  founder  of  Jerpoint  Abbey, 
one  of  the  finest  monastic  ruins  in  Ireland.  See  Antiquities 
of  Kilkenny,  byj.  G.  Robertson  (Kilkenny  :  1851),  and  Arch- 
dall's  Monasticon  Hibernicum,  p.  355.  The  founder  is  said 
to  have  been  buried  there  in  1185.  His  tomb  is  still  pointed 
out  adorned  with  some  figures  clothed  in  the  dress  of  the 
twelfth  or  thirteenth  century. 

-  The  glebe  lands  of  Kells,  in  the  diocese  of  Meath,  were 
Church  property,  certainly  for  more  than  eight  hundred  years 
(see  Archdeacon  Stopford's  Handbook  of  Ecclesiastical  Law, 
p.  50).  They  have  been  lately  sold,  though  sentiment  would 
have  retained  them. 

:1  This  prince's  name  was  Enna  MacMurchadha  (see  Four 
Masters,  A.D.  1168,  O'Donovan's  edition).  He  seems  to  have 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  85 


Gillpatrick,  therefore,  Dermot  and  the  Normans  directed 
the  first  blow.  Dermot  acted  like  a  wise  general  as  he 
was,  and  determined  to  crush  the  enemies  nearest  to 
him  before  they  had  time  to  summon  the  forces  of 
Roderic  O'Conor  of  Connaught  and  of  O'Rourke  of 
Breifny.  He  advanced,  therefore,  against  Gillpatrick, 
about  the  beginning  of  June,  1169. 

His  task  was  no  easy  one.  The  King  of  Ossory  had, 
as  Dermot  knew,  made  preparations  to  give  him  and  his 
friends  a  warm  reception.  He  had  cut  trenches  across 
the  roads,  as  still  they  do  at  evictions,  planted  them 
with  palisades  of  timber  and  of  thorn  bushes,  and 
manned  them  with  five  thousand  men.  Dermot's 
Leinster  troops  had  in  addition  been  demoralised  by 
three  defeats  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Ossory  men. 
Celtic  troops  and  nations  are  specially  subject  to  the 
spirit  of  depression.  They  fight  splendidly  while 
successful ;  they  become  abject  cowards  in  the  hour 
of  defeat.  They  are  deficient  in  solid  staying  power, 
— a  trait  of  national  character  which  we  have  seen 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  French  in  the 
last  Franco-German  war.  Dermot's  Ossory  expedition 
as  described  by  our  authorities  offers  another  example 
of  this  fatal  weakness.  The  Leinster  troops  came  to 
the  spot  where,  three  times  over,  Gillpatrick  had 

survived  his  mutilation  for  many  years,  and  to  have  had  children. 
His  daughter  Dervorgil  married  Donnall  Gillemaholmoc,  prince 
of  the  tribe  which  inhabited  the  Dodder  Valley  and  the  glens 
leading  thence  into  the  Dublin  Mountains.  Enna's  name 
appears  as  a  witness  to  a  grant  made  by  Dervorgil  to  St.  Mary's 
Abbey  about  1190.  See  Gilbert's  Chartularies  of  St.  Mary's 
Abbey,  t.  i.,  p.  32  (Rolls  Series).  Cf.  another  grant  in  the  same 
volume,  p.  35,  by  which  another  chief  of  the  same  clan  bestowed 
the  wild,  picturesque  valley  of  Glencullen  on  the  same  monastery 
in  1230.  Donnall  Kavanagh,  Dermot's  favourite  son,  was  not 
legitimate  even  according  to  the  very  loose  matrimonial  laws 
then  prevalent  among  the  Celtic  princes. 


86  IRELAND. 

defeated  them.  A  panic  seized  them,  and  they  fled  in 
a  moment,  disappearing  into  the  depths  of  the  forest 
which  then  and  long  after  covered  the  districts  of 
Idrone,  Slieve-Margy,  and  the  Queen's  County.1  His 
Norman  allies  were  but  of  little  avail  to  Dermot 
under  such  circumstances.  Heavy  armed  and  mail- 
clad  knights  on  horseback,  cross-bowmen  on  foot,  were 
formidable  to  the  light-armed  and  unarmoured  Irish  in 
plains  and  in  the  open  country.  But  they  were  worse 
than,  useless  when  marching  along  a  narrow  forest 
footpath,  where  they  had  to  proceed  in  single  file  and 
in  straggling  order.  Then  was  the  Celtic  opportunity ; 
and  often  indeed,  in  the  history  of  this  country,  have 
the  native  Irish  used  it  to  avenge  themselves  upon 
their  adversaries.  Why,  even  down  to  our  own  times, 
with  all  our  improvements  in  the  art  of  destruction, 
the  Irish  peasantry  have  succeeded  in  defeating  English 
forces  under  similar  circumstances.  Half  a  century 
ago  the  last  deadly  victory  was  thus  gained  by  Irish 
peasants,  armed  with  pitchforks  and  scythes,  over  British 
forces.  The  men  of  this  generation  know  nothing  of 
the  Battle  of  Carrickshock,  when  a  large  body  of  police, 
horse  and  foot,  was  annihilated  in  the  very  same  neigh- 
bourhood as  Dermot  MacMurrough  was  now  invading. 
It  was  the  terrible  time  of  the  tithe  agitation,  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1831,  when  a  body  of  police  were 
enticed  into  a  wooded  defile  in  the  county  Carlow,  and 
almost  completely  destroyed,  unable  to  use  their  weapons 
of  precision  against  an  unseen  foe.  At  the  battle  of 
Carnew,  in  the  rebellion  of  1798,  Sir  Watkin  Wynn's 


1  See  on  this  forest  the  Journal  of  the  Kilkenny  Arehajo- 
logical  Soeiety  for  1856,  t.  i.,  N.S.,  p.  2^8,  where  an  interesting- 
article  will  be  found  on  "  The  Woods  of  Ancient  Leinster,"  by 
H.  F.  liore,  Ksq. 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  87 


regiment  of  cavalry,  called  the  Ancient  Britons,  was 
annihilated  under  similar  circumstances.  In  1599  the 
fiery  Essex  was  obliged  to  retire  from  an  expedition  made 
into  the  King's  County,  because  the  woods  of  Durrow 
were  so  entrenched,  plashed,  and  defended  that  the  roads 
were  impassable.  A  few  years  earlier  he  was  taught, 
by  bitter  experience,  the  dangers  of  such  an  attempt 
from  the  losses  he  sustained  when  passing  through  the 
woods  of  Tipperary,  where  so  many  knights  fell  that 
the  spot  was  afterwards  called  the  Pass  of  Plumes. 
So  it  was  with  the  Norman  adventurers  on  the  occasion 
of  this  invasion  of  Ossory.  Had  they  been  troops 
trained  in  continental  warfare  they  would  doubtless 
have  all  perished.  But  fortunately  for  themselves  they 
had  been  exercised  in  the  very  similar  warfare  waged 
among  the  Welsh  woods  and  morasses.  They  were 
half  Celts  too,  and  they  knew  right  well  how  to  deal 
with  the  Irish  under  their  existing  circumstances.  The 
time  of  the  year,  the  leafy  month  of  June,  added  to  the 
Norman  difficulties.  There  was  a  proverb  current  long 
ago  in  Ireland  which  explains  this  statement.  "  The 
Irish  will  never  be  tamed,"  so  ran  the  saying,  "whilst 
the  leaves  are  on  the  trees " — implying  that  the  best 
season  for  carrying  on  war  against  the  natives  was 
after  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  as  they  found  shelter  for  them- 
selves, and  food  for  their  horses  and  cattle,  in  and 
under  the  leafy  boughs  of  the  forest.  Behold  now  a 
practical  example  of  the  somewhat  abstract  principles 
I  have  been  laying  down.  Dermot  and  the  Normans 
ravaged  Ossory  after  the  usual  fashion,  burned  houses, 
destroyed  the  growing  crops,  swept  off  the  cattle.  They 
were  returning  laden  with  plunder,  when  the  Ossory 
men  fell  upon  them.  They  had  come  to  the  spot — a 
dangerous  defile  it  was — where  the  Leinster  men  had 


88  IRhLAND. 

been  so  often  defeated.  A  cry  was  raised  that  the 
Ossory  men  were  upon  them.  Dermot's  native  soldiers 
at  once  fled,  while  the  Normans,  expecting  immediate 
attack,  pushed  on  to  firm  and  clear  ground  as  rapidly 
as  possible.1 

Maurice  de  Prendergast  showed  himself  a  thorough 
general  at  this  crisis.  He  never  for  a  moment  lost  his 
head.  He  summoned  Robert  Smith,  the  chief  of  the 
archers,  to  his  side, — the  poem  demonstrates  its  authen- 
ticity by  such  minute  details, — placed  him  in  ambush, 
so  as  to  take  the  Irish  in  the  rear,  and  then  marched 


1  All  the  details  of  this  expedition,  as  stated  in  Morice 
Regan's  poem,  between  lines  600  and  815,  are  lifelike  and 
geographically  accurate.  The  combined  forces  of  Dermot 
and  the  Normans  marched  from  Ferns,  crossed  the  Slaney, 
penetrated  the  defiles  of  Mount  Leinster,  marched  over  the 
plains  of  Carlow  to  the  River  Barrow,  and  then  entered 
Ossory,  either  by  the  road  which  then,  as  now,  crossed  the 
Slieve  Margy  range,  by  Leighlin  Bridge  and  Old  Leighlin, 
where  the  Black  Castle  of  Leighlin  Bridge  shows  the  military 
importance  of  the  ford  in  those  early  days  ;  or  else  by 
Clogrenan,  a  few  miles  to  the  north,  where  a  castle  still 
exists,  erected  by  the  Butlers  in  the  fourteenth  century  to 
guard  that  ford.  The  battle  was  probably  fought  in  the  forest 
of  Grenan,  which  then  covered  the  northern  and  western  slopes 
of  Slieve  Margy,  some  relics  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen  in 
the  woods  of  Clogrenan  demesne.  The  western  slope  of 
Slieve  Margy,  of  mingled  bogs,  woods,  and  morasses,  was 
eminently  suited  to  Celtic  warfare.  The  range  is  bounded  on 
the  west  by  a  tempestuous  mountain  stream,  locally  called 
"  the  red  and  deceitful,"  Dinin,— -giving  a  name  to  the  entire 
district  from  its  destructive  ravages,  which  was  hence  called 
the  Desert  of  the  Dinin,  or  Fasach-dinin  in  Irish  (see  for 
a  description  of  this  natural  fastness  O'Donovan's  paper  on 
Ancient  Ossory  in  the  Journal  of  the  Kilkenny  Archaeo- 
logical Society,  t.  i.,  p.  230-36,  where  he  notes  that  a  Celtic 
tribe  maintained  its  independence,  in  the  desert  on  the  banks 
of  the  Dinin,  till  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  against  all  the 
efforts  of  the  House  of  Ormond;  with  which  may  be  compared 
p.  365  of  the  same  volume,  where  he  gives  the  legends 
of  the  Dinin).  At  Old  Leighlin,  near  the  cathedral,  on  the 
south,  a  pass  still  retains  the  name  of  the  Bohreen  of  the 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  89 

on,  riding  a  white  horse  named  Blanchard.  Pretending 
flight,  he  successfully  drew  the  Ossory  forces  on  till  he 
reached  the  open  ;  but  then  turning,  and  raising  the 
national  Welsh  war  cry  of  "St.  David  for  ever!"  the  mail- 
clad  knights,  Prendergast  and  Fitz-Stephen,  Meyler  and 
De  Montmorenci,  flung  themselves  on  their  opponents, 
while  the  archers  emerging  from  their  concealment  at- 
tacked them  from  behind,  with  such  terrible  results  that 
no  less  than  two  hundred  and  twenty  human  heads  were, 
after  the  battle,  laid  at  the  feet  of  King  Dermot  Mac- 
Murrough.1  I  will  not  weary  you  with  the  narrative  of 


Saxons,  from  a  battle  once  fought  there  between  the  Eng- 
lish and  Irish.  The  hill  is  pointed  out  where  the  English 
made  their  stand,  but  this  site  does  not  tally  with  Morice 
Regan's  story  (see  the  Ordnance  Survey  Correspondence, 
Carlow  Letters,  p.  224,  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy).  King 
Dermot  and  Fitx-Stephen  fought  at  some  distance  from  Old 
Leighlin.  The  Normans  wished  to  encamp  after  their  victory, 
but  the  king  refused,  and  did  not  feel  safe  till  he  got  to  Leigh- 
lin (Morice  Regan's  poem,  lines  800-812),  where  he  found 
shelter  behind  the  earthworks  and  cashel  of  the  Abbey  of 
S.  Laserian,  whose  site  is  now  occupied  by  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury Anglo-Norman  cathedral.  I  may  just  note  that  this 
ancient  but  little  known  cathedral  of  Leighlin  occupies  a 
splendid  position  on  a  lofty  hill.  The  view  from  its  tower  is 
magnificent ;  on  the  west  Slieve  Margy  rises  above  it,  while 
upon  the  east  the  horizon  is  bounded  by  the  Mount  Leinster 
range,  the  conical  peak  of  which  is  2,700  feet  high. 

1  Giraldus  Cambrensis  tells  a  horrid  story  of  King  Dermot' s 
conduct  upon  this  occasion,  Expiignatio,  i.,  4.  "  The  victory 
being  thus  gained,  about  two  hundred  of  the  enemies'  heads 
were  collected  and  laid  at  the  feet  of  Dermitius,  who  turning 
them  over  one  by  one,  in  order  to  recognise  them,  thrice 
lifted  his  hands  to  heaven  in  the  excess  of  his  joy,  and  with 
a  loud  voice  returned  thanks  to  God  most  High.  Among  them 
was  the  head  of  one  he  mortally  hated  above  all  the  rest,  and 
taking  it  up  by  the  ears  and  hair,  he  tore  the  nostrils  and  lips 
with  his  teeth  in  a  most  savage  and  inhuman  manner."  See 
for  a  somewhat  similar  incident  in  the  last  century  the  history 
of  Tiger  Roche,  as  told  by  the  late  Right  Hon.  ].  E.  Walsh, 
Master  of  the  Rolls  in  Ireland,  in  his  Ireland  Sixty  Years 
Ago,  p.  122  (Dublin:  1847). 


90  IRELAND. 


the  various  raids  made  during  this  summer  of  1169  by 
the  allied  forces.  They  ravaged  Ossory  a  second  time, 
and  expelled  its  prince.  They  plundered  Offaly,  or  the 
modern  county  of  Kildare.  They  turned  in  the  oppo- 
site direction,  penetrated  the  recesses  of  the  vale  of 
Imail,  crossed  the  Wicklow  range  by  the  pass  along 
by  the  Ess  waterfall  into  Glenmalure,  and  seized  the 
sacred  city  of  Glendalough,  the  capital  of  the  O'Tooles, 
working  as  much  mischief  as  they  possibly  could, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  times. 

Roderic  O'Conor,  King  of  Connaught,  became 
alarmed  at  the  progress  made  by  Dermot  during  these 
early  summer  months.  He  assembled  his  forces  and 
allies  and  marched  across  the  island  to  attack  Dermot 
in  his  ancestral  castle  at  Ferns.  It  was  now  Dermot' s 
turn  to  retire.  He  entrenched  himself  in  the  usual 
Celtic  fashion, — not  yet  extinct,  as  we  learn  by  the 
proceedings  at  modern  eviction  scenes.  His  followers 
felled  trees,  cut  up  and  barricaded  the  roads,  such  as  they 
were  ;  while  Fitz-Stephen,  using  his  Norman  military 
science,  taught  them  how  "to  break  up  the  surface  of 
the  level  ground  by  digging  deep  holes  and  trenches, 
cutting  secret  and  narrow  passages  through  the  thickets 
for  the  purposes  of  egress  and  ingress ;  "  and  with  such 
success  that  Roderic  found  the  position  of  the  allies 
utterly  inaccessible.  The  Connaught  king  then  tried 
negotiations  and  bribery ;  dealing  with  each  party 
separately.  To  Fitz-Stephen  he  represented  the  odious 
character  of  Dermot,  offering  him  liberal  presents  if  he 
would  abandon  such  an  unworthy  service  and  return 
to  his  own  country.  To  Dermot  he  represented  the 
dangerous  character  of  the  foreigners  to  all  Irish  parties 
alike,  offering  him  the  undisputed  sovereignty  of  Leinster 
if  he  \vouid  join  with  him  in  exterminating  the  mercenary 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALD1NES.  91 

foe.  Dermot's  guile  came  to  his  help  as  usual.  He 
made  a  secret  treaty,  promising  to  dismiss  his  allies 
and  to  import  no  more  of  them,  while  by  a  public 
agreement  Roderic  confirmed  him  in  the  kingdom  of 
Leinster,  stipulating  merely  that  Dermot  should  give 
hostages  and  do  homage  to  himself  as  supreme  king. 
Roderic's  opposition  was  thus  for  a  time  disposed  of, 
though  Dermot  had  not  the  slightest  intention  of  fulfilling 
the  conditions  of  the  treaty. 

Success,  however,  told  with  its  usual  effects  on  the 
character  of  Dermot.  That  character  as  well  as  his  bodily 
appearance  have  been  painted  for  us  by  Giraldus  in  a 
few  vigorous  strokes  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  the  first 
book  of  his  History  of  the  Conquest.  Dermitius,  says  the 
chronicler,  was  tall  in  stature,  and  of  large  proportions. 
And  being  a  great  warrior  and  valiant  in  his  nation, 
his  voice  had  become  hoarse  by  constantly  shouting  and 
raising  his  war-cry  in  battle.  Bent  more  on  inspiring 
fear  than  love,  he  oppressed  his  nobles,  though  he 
advanced  the  lowly.  A  tyrant  to  his  own  people,  he 
was  hated  by  strangers  ;  his  hand  was  against  every 
man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him.  Prosperity 
made  a  man  like  that  haughty,  insolent,  and  overbearing. 
He  began  to  attribute  all  his  success  to  his  own  efforts 
and  skill.  He  wished  to  kick  away  the  Welsh  and 
Norman  ladder  by  which  he  had  risen,  and  began  to 
treat  his  allies  with  contempt.  The  quarrel  proceeded 
in  the  course  of  the  autumn  to  such  lengths  that 
Maurice  Prendergast  abandoned  his  service,  and,  taking 
his  two  hundred  followers  with  him,  marched  towards 
Wexford  to  embark  for  home.  Dermot  anticipated  his 
action,  however,  and  gave  orders  that  permission  to 
embark  at  Wexford  should  be  refused.  Prendergast 
however,  had  his  revenge.  Me  was  a  soldier  of  fortune, 


92  IRELAND. 

and  his  arms  were  open  to  the  highest  and  best  bidder. 
He  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  defeated  Prince 
of  Ossory,  joined  him  at  Timolin,  now  St.  Mullins,  in 
the  south  of  Carlow,  and  in  union  with  the  Ossory 
forces  proceeded  to  ravage  the  surrounding  lands.  His 
secession  proved  a  warning  to  the  treacherous  Dermot, 
while  the  gap  in  his  forces  was  soon  made  good  by  the 
arrival  at  Wexford  of  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald,  who  landed 
with  ten  knights,  thirty  horsemen,  and  one  hundred 
archers.  Matters  stood  in  the  following  position  at  the 
close  of  1169.  Dermot  had  recovered  his  sway  over 
his  ancient  kingdom.  The  citizens  of  Dublin  even  had 
made  a  league  with  him,  which,  however,  they  were 
determined  to  break  as  soon  as  they  could.  Fitz-Stephen 
had  been  put  into  possession  of  Wexford  and  the 
present  baronies  of  Forth  and  Bargy,  and  had  built 
himself  a  castle  on  the  commanding  pass  of  Carrig,  two 
miles  north  of  Wexford,  where  its  ruins  are  in  part 
still  to  be  seen ;  while  the  Normans  had  divided  into 
two  sections,  one  part  supporting  Dermot  and  the 
other  his  opponent  Gillpatrick.  The  quarrels  of  the 
colonists,  England's  fatal  weakness  in  this  country,  had 
thus  early  begun.  In  future  lectures  we  shall  see  how 
this  original  taint  ever  clung  to  their  action  and  hindered 
their  success.  The  winter  of  1169-70  passed  as  Irish 
winters  usually  passed, — in  eating  and  drinking,  fight- 
ing among  themselves,  love-making,  and  working  now 
and  then.  The  spring  saw  the  results.  Gillpatrick 
of  Ossory  agreed  no  better  with  Maurice  Prendergast 
than  Dermot  had  done.  The  fault  may  not  have  been 
altogether  on  the  Irish  side.  The  Normans,  mayhap, 
were  inclined  to  take  too  much  on  themselves  and  rate 
their  services  at  too  high  a  value.  In  the  spring  of  1 170 
Prendergast  abandoned  Gillpatrick  also,  and  marched 


THE  INVASION  OF  THE  GERALDINES.  93 

towards  Waterford,  determined  to  abandon  Ireland  for 
ever.       Gillpatrick    tried    the    usual    Irish    device    and 
attempted  to  entrap  him  at  a  wooded  defile.     At  Kil- 
kenny, where  he  spent  a  night,    Prendergast  learned 
their  design,  and  proved  himself  their  match  in  subtlety. 
He  sent  a  message  to  Gillpatrick  that  he  had  changed 
his  mind  and  would  form  a  new  alliance  with  him  if  he 
came  to  Kilkenny.     The  Ossory  men  at  once  dispersed 
and  came  to  Kilkenny,  only  to  find  the  bird  flown,  for 
Prendergast  had  marched  to  Waterford,  where,  after  a 
row  with    the    citizens  arising    out  of  some   drunken 
squabble,    he    took   ship  and    crossed    to    St.    David's. 
Dermot,  the  Leinster  king,  on  the  other  hand,  learned 
a  useful  lesson  from  the  secession  of  Prendergast.     He 
moderated  his  tone,  treated  his  Norman  allies  with  more 
respect,  and,  aided  by  them,  engaged  in  successful  expe- 
ditions against  Dublin,  and   even   as   far  as   Limerick. 
His  hopes  began  to  aspire  even  higher,  and  though  he 
was  now  long  past  the  allotted  threescore  years  and  ten, 
he  began  to  cherish  dreams  of  the  supreme  sovereignty 
over  Ireland.     He  communicated  his  ambitious  hopes 
to  Fitz-Stephcn   and    Fitz-Gerald,   entreating   them   to 
invite  over  still  larger  bands  of  their  countrymen  to  aid 
him  in  his  efforts.     For  their  encouragement  he  offered 
his  eldest  daughter  in  marriage  to  either  of  them,  with 
right  of  succession  to  his  kingdom.     There  was,  how- 
ever, a  bar,  which  to  the  Normans,  trained  under  the  dis- 
cipline of  Roman  canon  law,  seemed  insuperable,  though 
to    Dermot  himself,    doubtless,    their   scruples   seemed 
utterly  unreasonable.    These  knights  had  already  wives 
to  whom  they  were  bound  in  lawful  wedlock.      They 
advised,  however,  that  he  should  despatch  messengers 
to  Earl  Richard,  usually  called  Strongbow,  urging  his 
immediate  departure  for  Ireland.     I  shall  conclude  this 


94  IRELAND. 

lecture  with  reading  for  you  this  specimen  of  an  Irish 
king's  correspondence  seven  hundred  years  ago,  as 
given  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis :  "  Dermitius,  son  of 
Murchard  Prince  of  Leinster,  to  Richard  Earl  of  Striguil, 
son  of  Earl  Gilbert,  sends  greeting."  He  begins  his 
epistle  in  right  classical  style,  and  then  adds  a  quotation 
from  an  epistle  of  Ovid— 

"  Tempora  si  numeres  bene  quae  numeramus  egentes 
Non  venit  ante  suum  nostra  querela  diem  " 

which  Mr.  Wright  thus  turns  into  rhyme  : 

"  Were  you,  like  those  who  wait  your  aid,  to  count  the  weary 

days, 
You  would  not  wonder  that  I  chide  these  lingering  delays.' ' 

He  then  proceeds  : — "  We  have  watched  the  storks  and 
swallows.  The  summer  birds  have  come  and  are  gone 
again  with  the  southerly  wind,  but  neither  winds  from 
the  east  or  from  the  west  have  brought  your  much- 
desired  and  long-expected  presence.  Let  your  present 
activity  make  up  for  this  delay,  and  prove  by  your 
deeds  that  you  have  not  forgotten  your  engagements, 
but  only  deferred  their  performance.  The  whole  of 
Leinster  has  been  already  recovered,  and  if  you  come  in 
time  with  a  strong  force,  the  other  four  parts  of  the 
kingdom  will  be  easily  united  to  the  fifth.  You  will 
add  to  the  favour  of  your  coming  if  it  be  speedy.  It 
will  turn  out  famous  if  it  be  not  delayed,  and  the  sooner, 
the  better  welcome.  The  wound  in  our  regards  which 
has  been  partly  caused  by  neglect  will  be  healed  by 
your  presence ;  for  friendship  is  secured  by  good  offices, 
and  grows  by  benefits  to  greater  strength."  That 
letter  decided  Strongbow.  He  determined  to  proceed 
to  Ireland,  where  his  arrival  opened  a  new  phase  in  the 
scene  of  invasion. 


LECTURE    V. 

THE   INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW. 

DISTANCE  has  a  wondrous  power  of  enchantment. 
It  throws  a  halo  of  glory  about  persons  and 
characters  oftentimes  very  inglorious  in  themselves. 
It  tones  down  the  roughness,  the  harshness,  the  weak- 
ness, the  unlovableness  of  scenes  and  individuals,  so 
that  men  become  rapturous  over  places  and  persons 
they  detested  when  known,  or  would  have  detested  had 
they  been  known.  It  lumps  together  and  confuses 
enterprises  and  operations  which  were  in  fact  separate 
and  distinct  in  time,  in  motive,  and  in  circumstance. 
The  conquest  of  Ireland  illustrates  these  principles. 
Time  and  distance  confuses  for  the  popular  mind 
the  various  and  distinct  invasions  which  preceded 
the  final  conquest  of  Henry  II.  The  Geraldines  and 
Strongbow  are  regarded  as  merely  leaders  or  chiefs  of 
the  royal  army,  while,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Geraldine 
invasion  of  1169  and  the  invasion  of  Strongbow  in 
1 1 70  were  independent  wars  undertaken  by  chieftains 
of  Welsh  or  Norman  extraction  in  the  hope  of  esta- 
blishing feudal  principalities  which  should  be  quite 
independent  of  the  royal  supremacy. 

I  have  described  the  Geraldine  invasion.  The 
Fitz-Geralds  felt,  however,  their  own  weakness.  They 
held  a  respectable  position,  but  did  not  belong  to  the 


96  IRELAND. 

great  nobility  of  the  twelfth  century.1  They  were 
desirous,  therefore,  of  securing  the  help  and  prestige 
which  a  great  Norman  noble  could  confer.  These 
they  sought  at  Strongbow's  hands,  and  were  therefore 
most  desirous  of  his  co-operation.  Let  me  first  tell 
you  somewhat  of  Strongbow  himself.  His  name  of 
Strongbow  is  unknown  to  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  and 
is  due  simply  to  an  interpolation  in  a  late  copy 
of  his  Irish  history."  He  is  almost  always  called  by 
Giraldus,  Richard  Count  of  Striguil,  son  of  Count 
Gilbert.  He  drew  his  descent  from  exactly  the  same 
stock  as  the  Conqueror,  his  direct  ancestor  two  centuries 
earlier  being  a  son  of  Richard  the  Fearless,  Duke  of 
Normandy.  He  belonged  to  the  family  of  De  Clare,  a 
great  Norman  noble  who  came  over  with  William  the 
Conqueror,  whose  descendants  have  perpetuated  their 

1  See  27ie  Earls  of  Kildarc,  A.n.  1057 — J773>  DY  tne  Marquis 
of  Kildare,  2nd  edition  (Dublin  :  1862).  The  origin  of  the 
Geraldines  can  best  be  traced  in  Brut-y-Tywysogion,  or  the 
Chronicle  of  Hie  Princes  of  Wales,  written  by  Caradog  of 
Llancarvan  and  published  in  the  Rolls  Series  (London  :  1860), 
where  Gerald  of  Windsor,  the  founder  of  the  family,  appears 
as  steward  to  Ernulf,  brother  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury, 
about  the  year  noo  (see  I.e.,  p.  67).  Gerald  was  sent  by 
Ernulf  in  that  same  year  to  demand  in  marriage  the  daughter 
of  Murtogh  O'Brian,  supreme  King  of  Ireland.  This  Welsh 
Chronicle  is  a  most  important  witness,  showing  the  intimate 
knowledge  of  Ireland,  its  affairs  and  its  princes,  possessed  by 
Normans  and  Welsh  alike  during  the  century  prior  to  the 
conquest  of  1172.  The  Four  Masters  do  not  mention  the 
marriage  of  Ernulf  and  King  Murtogh  O'Brian's  daughter. 
On  a  comparison,  however,  of  the  Welsh  Chronicle,  A.D.  uoo, 
with  the  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1102,  it  would  seem  as  if  Magnus, 
King  of  Denmark,  intervened,  and  secured  the  young  lady  for 
his  own  son  Sitric,  whom  he  made  King  of  Man.  The  Irish 
brides  sought  by  Norman  nobles  and  Scandinavian  princes 
cannot  have  been  simple  barbarians,  as  some  would  represent 
them  (cf.  note  on  p.  51  above). 

-  See  Mr.  Dimock's  remarks  on  this  point  in  the  Rolls  Edition 
of  the  works  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  t.  v.,  p.  228. 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW.  97 


name  in  the  designation  of  a  well-known  western 
county  of  our  island.  Gilbert  de  Clare,  his  father, 
made  extensive  conquests  in  South  Wales  during  the 
reigns  of  Henry  I.  and  Stephen,  and  was  created 
Earl  of  Pembroke  by  the  latter  monarch  in  the  year 
1138.  He  had  the  bad  luck  to  espouse  the  losing 
side  ;  and  when  King  Henry  II.  came  to  the  throne 
he  deprived  the  De  Clare  family  of  their  property.1 
His  son,  Count  Richard,  was  living  in  poverty  and 
idleness  at  his  Castle  of  Striguil,  about  four  miles 
from  Chepstow,  when  King  Dermot  approached  him 
with  an  offer  of  marriage  to  his  daughter  and  of 
succession  to  his  kingdom  of  Leinster.  Richard  Fitz- 
Gilbert  was  a  soldier  of  fortune.  He  had  nothing 
to  do  and  nothing  to  live  upon,  save  what  he  could 
win  by  his  right  arm  and  his  broad  sword,  and  was 
the  fitter  agent  .therefore  to  carry  out  the  designs  of 
Dermot  MacMurrough.2  At  the  conclusion  of  my  last 
lecture  I  read  for  you  the  letter  which  Dermot  de- 
spatched to  Count  Richard,  requesting  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promises  he  had  made  two  or  three  years  earlier. 
Strongbow  was  nothing  loath  to  respond  to  Dermot's 
invitation.  King  Henry  II.  was  daily  getting  deeper 
and  deeper  in  trouble  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
Ireland  seemed  to  offer  the  idle  but  ambitious  soldier 
a  field,  secure  from  royal  tyranny,  where  he  could 


1  The  De  Clares  lost  the  earldom  at  the  same  time,  but  an 
earldom   conferred  then   a  jurisdiction   rather  than    a    title. 
There  were,  in  fact,  no  hereditary  titles  at  that  period. 

2  See  a  paper  by  the  Rev.  J.  Graves  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society,  t.  i.,  p.  501,  on  a  charter  and 
seal  of  Richard,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  surnamed  Strong-bow,  where 
the  curious  reader  will  find  much  information  concerning  the 
descent,  arms,  and  achievements  of  Strongbow.     The  original 
charter,  described  by  Mr.  Graves,  exists  among  the  records  of 
Kilkenny  Castle.     Cf.  Dugdale's  Baronage,  pp.  206-209. 

7 


IRELAND. 


recoup  his  Ic^t  fortunes.  He  spent  the  winter  of 
1169-70  in  preparation,  encouraged  by  the  reports  he 
had  received  of  the  successes  and  victories  of  Fitz- 
Stephen  and  the  Geraldines.  He  feared  the  royal 
jealousy,  however ;  and  so,  notwithstanding  the  general 
license  involved  in  the  letters  patent  granted  to  King 
Dermot  some  two  years  before,  he  applied  to  the  king 
for  special  permission  to  engage  in  the  Irish  expedition, 
or  else  for  restoration  to  his  confiscated  family  estates. 
Henry  II.  was  in  one  respect  very  modern  in  his  policy. 
He  delighted  to  satisfy  English  malcontents  in  Irish 
bonds.  When  any  persons  were  specially  troublesome 
at  home  he  preferred  that  they  should  be  contented 
at  the  expense  of  Ireland  rather  than  of  England. 
He  much  preferred  war  and  trouble  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Irish  Sea  to  the  presence  of  a  powerful,  a 
persistent,  and  a  discontented  noble  upon  the  Welsh 
borders.  Henry  II.  gave,  therefore,  a  grudging  assent 
to  Strongbow's  intended  expedition,  which  the  Earl 
forthwith  proceeded  to  carry  out.  Strongbow  despatched, 
about  the  1st  of  May,  1170,  an  advance  guard  under 
the  command  of  one  of  the  Fitz-Gerald  clan,  Raymond 
le  Gros,  nephew  of  Fitz-Stephen,  who  had  already  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  work  of  conquest.1  Raymond 
landed  probably  where  twelve  months  before  his  uncle 
had  disembarked,  on  the  Wexford  coast,  where  he  was 
at  once  attacked  by  the  citizens  of  Waterford,  helped 
by  the  chiefs  of  Decies,  Qssory,  and  Idrone.-'  His 

1  Raymond  was  called  Le  Gros,  or  the  Corpulent.  He  was 
the  ancestor  of  the  Graces,  Barons  of  Courtstown.  See 
Memoirs  of  the  Family  of  Grace,  by  Sheffield  Grace  (London, 
1823),  pp.  i-io.  And  cf.  below,  p.  188. 

-  The  Norman  poem  of  Morice  Regan  describes  the  allies 
thus  : — 

"  Del  Deys  Dovenald  Osfelan 
E  de  Odrono  Qrian 


THE   INVASION  OF  STRONCBOW.  99 


assailants  were,  for  the  most  part,  Danes,  like  the 
townsmen  of  Wexford.  They  remembered  the  fate  of 
that  city  twelve  months  before,  and  attempted  therefore 
to  destroy  the  invaders  before  they  came  in  overwhelm- 
ing numbers.  They  marched  from  Waterford  three 
thousand  strong,  crossed  the  Suir,  and  attacked  Ray- 
mond and  his  followers,  who  numbered  at  first  but  ten 
men-at-arms  and  seventy  archers.  Hervey  de  Mount- 
maurice,  to  whom  Dermot  had  granted  the  baronies  of 
Forth  and  Bargy,  with  three  knights  and  their  followers, 
joined  him  upon  his  arrival ;  so  that  Raymond  may  have 
had  a  force  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred 
men  with  which  to  resist  the  attack  of  the  Waterford 
citizens.1  He  threw  up  some  hasty  fortifications  on  the 
point  of  Bag  and  Bun,  where  to  this  day  the  traces  of 
earthworks  attributed  to  Strongbow  are  to  be  seen,2  and 
then  marched  out  to  meet  the  Waterford  Danes,  who, 
however,  proved  too  many  and  vigorous  for  his  little 
band.  They  were  overwhelmed  by  the  force  of  numbers, 


E  tuz  les  Yrreis  de  la  cuntre 
Le  Chastel  unt  avirune." 

These  words  refer  to  Donald  O'Phelan,  chief  of  the  Decies,  a 
district  in  the  west  of  the  co.  Waterford  ;  and  O'Ryan,  chief 
of  a  tribe  of  that  name  in  Carlow,  not  yet  extinct.  See 
O' Donovan's  edition  of  O'Heerin's  Topographical  Poem  in 
the  Irish  Archaeological  Series,  A.D.  1862,  pp.  75-101,  and 
notes  in  the  Appendix.  The  editor  of  Bohn's  edition  of 
Giraldus,  p.  206,  misled  by  the  word  Ophelan,  brings  Ray- 
mond's assailants  from  the  barony  of  Offaly  in  Kildare,  one 
hundred  miles  away,  instead  of  from  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood of  Waterford,  where  they  lived.  Cf.  Smith's  Plisiory 
of  Waterford,  pp.  3-9,  45,  53,  and  the  letters  of  J.  O'Donovan, 
LL.D.,  in  the  Ordnance  Survey  Correspondence,  Waterford 
Letters,  pp.  180,  181,  in  the  Roy.  Ir.  Acad. 

1  See,  1'or  interesting  facts  about  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice, 
the  Journal  of  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society,  t.  iii. 
(1854-55),  p.  217.  Cf.  note  on  p.  74  above. 

3  See  Hall's  Picturesque  Ireland,  t.  ii.,  p.  148. 


loo  IRELAND. 

and  fled  to  their  fortifications,  entering  pell-mell,  Danes 
and  Normans  all  mixed  up  together.  The  fate  of  the 
English  invasion  hung  in  the  balance  a  second  time  that 
May-day  of  1170.  Had  the  Danes  of  Water  ford  suc- 
ceeded where  the  Danes  of  Wexford  had  failed,  and  had 
they  crushed  the  advance  guard  of  Strongbow,  that 
chieftain  would  have  been  himself  intimidated  from 
farther  advance,  and  the  history  of  Ireland  might  have 
been  radically  different.  The  personal  exertions  of  two 
men  altered  the  whole  complexion  of  affairs,  and  snatched 
victory  from  the  Danes  when  it  was  now  almost  achieved.1 
These  two  men  were  Raymond  le  Gros  himself  and  one 
of  his  companions,  William  Ferrand.  Ferrand  was  a 
man  of  undaunted  courage.  That  courage  was  nerved 
and  intensified  by  the  fact  that  he  was  seized  of  an 
incurable  disease.  Leprosy,  the  direst  enemy  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  is  now  extinct  in  Ireland,  but  seven 
centuries  ago  it  was  a  terrible,  a  destructive,  and  a 
dreaded  pestilence.  Mercer's  Hospital,  in  our  own  city, 
stands  upon  the  site  of  the  Leper  Hospital  of  Dublin. 
Leperstown,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Still- 
organ  and  Blackrock,  still  witnesses  in  its  name  to 
the  prevalence  of  the  disease,  because  its  fields  were 
then  the  endowment  appropriated  to  the  support  of 
St.  Stephen's  Leper  Hospital.2  Waterford,  again, 

1  The  authorities  for  this  battle  and  its  results  are  Giraldur, 
Cambrens\s,CoHguest  of  Ireland,  bk.  i.,  ch.  xiii. — xv.,  pp.  206 
— 211,  Bohn's  edition;  and  Morice  Regan,  ed.  Wright,  pp.  68 
— 72,  or  Harris's  Hibernica,  p.  9. 

-  "  Ecclesia  de  Sto.  Stephano.  Leprosi  habent  in  proprios 
usus,  qui  habent  Rectorem  per  institutionem  Archiepiscopi 
ad  presentationem  Majoris  et  Comitatus  Civitatis  Dublinensis  " 
{Repertorium  Viride,  A.D.  1530,  pp.  3,  6,  in  Marsh's  Library. 
Cf.  Rev.  W.  G.  Carroll's  Succession  of  the  Clergy  of  St. 
Bride' s,  pp.  7,  10  (Dublin  :  1884).  Mercer's  Hospital  in  Stephen 
Street  now  stands  on  the  site  of  this  ancient  leper  hospital. 
Leperstown  is  called  in  the  Irish  language  Ballinlourc,  or 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW. 


possesses  a  hospital  called  to  this  day  the  Leper 
Hospital,  dating  its  foundation  back  to  those  times 
when  leprosy  was  a  real  and  dreaded  plague.  William 
Ferrand  was  like  Naaman,  the  captain  of  the  host  of 
the  King  of  Syria.  He  was  a  mighty  man  of  valour 
and  a  brave  soldier,  but  he  was  a  leper.  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis  puts  his  case  very  briefly  and  neatly.  "  His 
body  was  weak,  but  his  spirit  was  resolute  ;  for,  being 
diseased  with  leprosy,  which  threatened  his  life,  he 
sought  to  anticipate  the  effects  of  disease  by  a  premature 
though  glorious  death."1  A  desperate  man,  utterly  care- 
less of  life,  can  do  something  even  still,  with  all  our 
progress  in  modern  warfare,  as  the  last  Soudan  war 
showed,  where  the  headlong  charges  of  Arab  fanatics 
often  threatened  to  overcome  the  resistance  and  neutra- 
lise the  power  of  the  breechloader  and  of  the  Catling 
gun.  But  a  desperate  man,  regardless  of  himself  and 
only  seeking  a  death  which  seemed  to  fly  from  him,  could 
do  much  more  in  those  times  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of 
his  own  party,  and  to  bring  defeat  and  dismay  into  the 
ranks  of  his  opponents.  Raymond  himself  was,  however, 
their  great  support,  and  proved  himself  a  worthy  leader 

Baile-au-lobhair,  or  the  town  of  the  lepers.  There  is  another 
Leperstown  in  the  parish  of  Killea,  near  Waterford.  It 
formed  the  endowment  of  the  Waterford  Leper  Hospital,  which 
was  built  in  a  street  (Stephen  Street)  of  the  same  name,  and 
organised  in  the  same  manner,  with  custos,  wardens,  etc.,  as 
the  Dublin  institution.  They  date  probably  from  the  same 
time,  King  John's  reign. 

1  See  21ie  Census  of  Ireland  for  the  Year  1851,  pt.  v.,  vol.  i., 
p.  75,  Report  on  Tables  of  Deaths,  pp.  418 — 21,  for  much 
interesting  information  about  leprosy  in  Ireland.  This  volume, 
compiled  by  Sir  W.  Wilde,  deals  specially  with  the  history  of 
Irish  medicine  and  disease  from  the  most  ancient  times.  Cf. 
Smith's  History  of  Waterford,  p.  183  ;  Reeves's  Antiqq.  of 
Down  and  Connor,  pp.  218,  232.  A  full  account  of  Irish  Leper 
Hospitals,  by  Sir  W.  Wilde,  will  be  found  in  The  Census  of  Ire- 
land 1851,  part  iii. ,  Report  on  the  Status  of  Disease,  pp.  90,  91. 


IRELAND. 


at  this  crisis  of  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion.  The  terri- 
fied Normans  were  hurrying  within  their  entrenchments, 
and  with  them  the  Danes  were  simultaneously  entering. 
There  was  neither  time  nor  opportunity  to  raise  the 
barricade.  Raymond  thereupon  turned,  opposed  his 
immense  and  corpulent  frame  to  the  entire  Danish  host. 
In  a  narrow  passage  one  man  can  face  a  vast  multitude 
when  only  one  or  two  can  come  on  at  a  time.  He  cut 
down  one  after  another  as  they  advanced  to  meet  him, 
and  thus  reaped  the  reward  of  his  boldness.  A  chance 
circumstance,  told  us  by  the  poem  of  Morice  Regan, 
effectually  seconded  his  efforts.  The  Normans  had 
adopted  the  Napoleonic  plan  of  making  war  support 
itself.  They  had  swept  off  the  cattle  from  the  neigh- 
bouring lands,  and  penned  them  up  within  their  own 
fortifications.  When  the  battle  waxed  furious  the  cattle 
took  to  headlong  flight,  and,  seeing  the  barricades  fallen, 
rushed  through  the  gap  thus  opened,  sweeping  the  allied 
Irish  before  them.  The  effect  was  magical.  The  Water- 
ford  host  and  their  allies  became  panic-stricken,  faced 
about,  and  fled  in  turn,  pursued  by  the  victorious  Nor- 
mans, who  killed  five  hundred,  and  flung  vast  numbers 
over  the  cliffs,  wrhich  here  rise  precipitous  over  the  sea. 
Thus  ended  the  battle  of  Bag-and-Bun,  little  known  by 
moderns,  when  English  rule  in  Ireland  well-nigh  came 
to  an  untimely  end,  and  that  through  the  exertions,  not 
of  Celts,  but  of  Danes.  Had  Raymond  and  Ferrand 
but  faltered  for  an  instant,  the  course  of  Irish  history 
had  been  quite  different.  It  is  no  wonder  that  Hanmer, 
an  Elizabethan  chronicler,  has  sung  of  the  spot  as — 

"  That  Creek  of  Bag  and  Bun 
Where  Irelond  was  lost  and  won."  l 


1  Hanmer  was  a  prebendary  of  St.  Canice's  Cathedral.  See 
Jo2irnal  of  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society,  1849-51,  t.  i., 
p.  456. 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW. 


The  Normans  were  not  content  with  their  victory, 
but  stained  it  by  an  atrocious  act  of  cruelty,  which 
proves  conclusively  that,  bad  as  the  native  Celts  were, 
as  I  have  depicted  them  in  my  first  lecture,  their  con- 
querors were  no  better.  The  Normans,  indeed,  never 
hesitated  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  blood  if  they  could 
thus  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  their  opponents. 
William  the  Conqueror  devastated  England  north  of 
the  Humber,  and  for  one  hundred  miles  utterly  extir- 
pated the  Saxon  inhabitants  whom  he  failed  to  conquer 
or  conciliate.  On  this  occasion  Norman  invaders  acted 
in  exactly  the  same  manner.  They  took  as  prisoners 
seventy  of  the  principal  citizens  of  Waterford.  Ray- 
mond wished  to  spare  them.  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice, 
the  settler  of  twelve  months'  experience,  using  all  the 
influence  of  his  local  knowledge,  addressed  the  assem- 
bled council,  scoffed  at  Raymond's  argument  in  behalf 
of  mercy,  urged  the  danger  of  timid  courses,  the  advan- 
tages of  boldness  and  terror,  concluding  his  speech  thus, 
in  words  worthy  of  Cromwell  himself,  and  full  of  his 
spirit :  "  We  must  so  employ  our  victory  that  the  death 
of  these  men  may  strike  terror  into  others,  and  that, 
taking  warning  from  their  example,  a  wild  and  rebellious 
people  nia}  beware  of  encountering  us  again.  Of  two 
things,  we  must  make  choice  of  one  ;  we  must  either 
resolutely  accomplish  what  we  have  undertaken,  and, 
stifling  all  emotions  of  pity,  utterly  subjugate  this 
rebellious  nation  by  the  strong  hand  and  power  of  our 
arms,  or,  yielding  to  deeds  of  mercy  as  Raymond  pro- 
poses, set  sail  homewards,  and  leave  both  the  country 
and  our  patrimony  to  this  miserable  people  ;  'M  an  oration 

1  Girald.  Camb.,  E.vpngnatio,  i.,  14,  15  (p.  208  Holm's  ed.). 
The  orations  as  given  by  Giraldus  are  of  course  fancy  speeches, 
but  they  represent  the  popular  Anglo-Norman  feelings  of  the 
time. 


io4  IRELAND. 

bloodthirsty  and  heartless,  which  nevertheless  appealed 
powerfully  to  the  fears  of  a  panic-stricken  band  sur- 
rounded by  overwhelming  numbers.  They  were,  in  fact, 
appalled  at  their  position,  and  could  not  understand  or 
appreciate  the  wiser  counsels  of  Raymond  their  leader. 
They  jumped  at  the  advice  of  Mountmaurice,  whom 
they  considered  the  more  experienced,  and  Giraldus  tells 
us  the  result.  "  Hervey's  opinions  were  approved  by 
his  comrades,  and  the  wretched  captives,  as  men  con- 
demned, had  their  limbs  broken,  were  cast  headlong  into 
the  sea,  and  were  drowned."  In  Ireland  as  in  England 
the  Norman  conqueror  determined  to  rule  by  terror,  not 
by  love.  From  May  to  August  of  1170  Raymond  and 
Hervey  Mountmaurice  maintained  themselves  at  Bag- 
and-Bun,  shut  in  behind  those  entrenchments  which  can 
still  there  be  seen.  Why,  you  may  ask,  did  notDermot 
MacMurrough  and  the  FitzGeralds  come  to  the  aid  of 
their  allies  during  all  the  long  days  of  the  early  summer  ? 
The  answer  is  simple, — they  had  quite  enough  to  do  to 
defend  themselves ;  and  besides,  Raymond  was  effectu- 
ally cut  off  from  any  assistance  save  from  Wales  and  by 
sea.  The  King  of  Ossory  and  the  Prince  of  Idrone  and 
the  Danes  of  Waterford  were  much  nearer  the  scene  of 
action  than  Uermot.  They  had  the  advantage  of  water 
communication.  They  could  sail  down  the  Suir,  the 
Barrow,  and  the  More  to  the  port  of  Waterford,  and  there 
uniting  their  forces,  they  were  able  to  cutoff  all  commu- 
nication between  the  Normans  in  the  north  of  Wexford 
and  their  brethren  in  the  south  of  the  county.  Even  to 
this  day  it  is  very  hard  to  get  at  Bag-and-Bun.  With 
all  our  modern  advances  and  improvements  the  towns- 
men of  Waterford  could  still  cut  off  most  effectually  an 
enemy  at  Bag-and-Bun  from  their  allies  at  Ferns  in  the 
north  of  the  same  county.  In  fact,  it  is  a  curious 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW.  105 

circumstance  illustrating  my  argument  that  while  you 
can  reach  Ferns  in  two  hours  from  Dublin,  if  you 
wish  to  visit  the  spot  where  Ireland  was  lost  and  won, 
which  is  in  the  same  county  as  Ferns,  your  shortest 
way  will  be  to  go  to  Waterford  by  train,  sleep  a  night 
there,  take  an  early  steamer  to  Duncannon  Fort,  and 
then  travel  by  car  some  six  or  seven  miles  to  the 
historic  spot  where  Norman  and  Celt  and  Dane  were 
contending  for  the  mastery  of  our  green  island.1 

Dermot  could  not  help  Raymond  and  his  little  band, 
but  help  was  coming  from  another  quarter.  Earl 
Richard,  commonly  called  Strongbow,  was  doubtless 
kept  informed  of  their  perilous  position.  A  day's  sail— 
a  few  hours'  sail  in  fact,  even  in  those  times— would 
carry  a  ship  from  Bannow  Bay  to  Milford  Haven.  The 
Earl  was  hampered,  however,  by  the  direst  of  foes, 
and  that  was  poverty.  He  had  no  money,  and  could 
only  pay  in  promises.  He  had  to  beat  up  followers 
in  every  direction.  He  marched  from  Chepstow,  where 
his  patrimonial  castle  of  Striguil  lay ;  directed  his 
course  along  the  coast  road  which  then,  as  now,  ran 
along  the  shores  of  the  Bristol  Channel ;  marched 
through  Cardiff,  Swansea,  and  Carmarthen,  alluring 
to  his  banner  the  numerous  soldiers  of  fortune,  de- 
scendants of  the  Flemish  military  settlers,  along  the 
sea  coast.  At  last  he  completed  his  armaments,  and 
embarking  at  Milford  Haven  with  two  hundred  men- 
at-arms  and  other  troops  to  the  number  of  a  thousand, 
landed  at  Crook,  in  Waterford  Harbour,  on  August 


1  The  nearest  points  by  railway  to  Bag-and-Bun  are  : 
Wexford,  about  twenty -five  miles  ;  New  Ross,  about  eighteen  ; 
and  Waterford,  about  fifteen.  Last  summer  I  enjoyed  a  trip 
round  that  district  on  a  tricycle,  and  found  excellent  roads 
and  good  accommodation. 


lo6  IRELAND. 

23rd,  1170,  the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day.1  He 
employed  the  feast  day  in  devotions,  doubtless,  and 
preparations,  united  his  forces  to  those  of  Raymond, 
and  at  once  marched,  on  August  25th,  to  the  assault 
of  Waterford,  which  they  took  after  a  hard  fight.  A 
relic  and  memento  of  that  struggle  remains  in  Water- 
ford,  where  Reginald's  Tower,  as  it  is  called  in  the 
I  listory  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  and  as  it  is  still  called, 
can  yet  be  seen,  a  genuine  specimen  of  the  warlike 
and  constructive  art  of  the  Danish  settler  who  led 
the  way  in  resistance  to  the  invasion  of  their  Norman 
cousins.  In  this  tower  were  taken  the  leading  men  of 
the  city,  Reginald  the  Danish  king,  or  chief  magistrate 
of  Waterford,  the  two  Sitrics  (a  well-known  Danish 
name),  and  Melaghlin  O'Phelan,  Prince  of  the  Decies,  a 
district  of  country  near  Waterford  which  now  gives  a 
title  to  an  Irish  nobleman.2  Waterford  being  captured, 
and  a  competent  army,  a  pledge  of  future  victory, 
assembled,  Earl  Richard  claimed  the  fulfilment  of 


1  Here  I  may  give  another  specimen  of  how  English 
translators  of  documents  concerning  Ireland  do  their  work. 
Hoveden  was  an  annalist  of  King  Henry's  time.  He  gives 
us  much  valuable  information  about  the  Irish  expeditions 
which  I  am  describing.  He  tells  us  that  he  disembarked  at 
Crook  and  marched  thence  to  Waterford.  The  Rev.  James 
Graves,  in  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society's  Journal  for 
1856,  vol.  iv.,  p.  386,  has  identified  the  spot.  Hoveden  has  been 
translated  in  Bohn's  Series,  and  the  translator  in  a  note  on 
the  name  gravely  suggests  that  Crook  is  a  mistake  of 
Hoveden's  for  Cork.  Hoveden,  t.  ii.,  p.  29  (Rolls  Series), 
describes  Crorh,  or  Crook,  as  distant  from  the  city  of  Water- 
ford  "per  octo  milliaria."  Surely  a  glance  at  a  map  would 
have  shown  the  English  editor  that  Cork  was  more  than  eight 
miles  from  Waterford. 

-  See  Girald.  Cambrensis,  Plxfiugnatio,  i.,  16;  Morice  Regan, 
i.'d.  Wright,  pp.  72,  73.  Giraldus  tells  us  that  when  Strong - 
bow  and  his  followers  were  in  despair  owing  to  the  vigorous 
resistance  of  the  Walerford  citizens,  Raymond  le  Gros  espied 
a  cage-work  hou.ie  built  on  the  outside  of  the  walls.  He  cut 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW.  107 

Dermot's  promise,  and  was  at  once  married  to  the 
Princess  Eva,  perhaps  in  a  church  raised  on  the  spot 
where  the  present  cathedral  of  the  Holy  Trinity  exists 
in  the  city  of  Waterford,  this  dedication  to  the  Holy 
Trinity  being  a  favourite  one,  as  in  Dublin,  Cork,  and 
Bristol,  wherever  the  Scandinavian  element  prevailed.1 
Strongbow  and  Dermot  leaving  a  garrison  to  hold  the 
port  of  Waterford  and  keep  open  their  communications 
with  Wales  and  Bristol,  marched  then  direct  to 
Ferns,  where  Dermot  always  maintained  his  head- 
quarters. Dermot,  though  a  very  old  man,  was  still  a 
thorough  general.  Strongbow,  too,  had  the  eye  and 
energy  of  a  conqueror.  Both  of  them  fixed  their  gaze 
on  Dublin  as  the  central  objective  point  of  all  their 
efforts.  Their  opponents,  too,  had  come  to  the  same 
conclusion.  The  Danes  of  Dublin  had  a  long  list  of 
injuries  to  avenge,  and  a  long  list  of  unforgiven  and 
unforgotten  injuries  inflicted  by  them  on  Dermot  and 
his  ancestors  to  stir  them  up  to  desperate  resistance. 
Dermot's  enemies  O'Conor  and  O'Rourke,  and  every 
subordinate  chieftain,  recognised  our  Danish  city  as  the 
fittest  spot  for  resistance,  and  the  Danish  colonists 
there  as  their  great  support  and  backbone.  Their 
bravery  was  undoubted,  their  right  arms  were  strong, 
and  their  fleets,  numerous  and  well-appointed,  could 
keep  open  the  sea,  bringing  allies  and  provisions  to 
their  help.  To  Dublin,  then,  assembled  all  the 
enemies  of  Dermot,  where,  for  the  first  time  since 


the  post  supporting  it,  and  the  house  tumbled  down,  bringing 
the  wall  with  it.  This  breach  afforded  an  entrance  to  the 
besiegers.  These  cage  work  houses  survived  in  Dublin  in  a  few 
instances  till  the  present  century.  See  Harris's  Dublin,  ch.  iv. 
1  The  marriage  of  Strongbow  and  Eva  now  forms  one  of 
the  series  of  illustrations  of  national  history  adorning  the  walls 
of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  at  Westminster. 


log  IRELAND. 

Brian  Boru's  heroic  age,  there  occurred  the  most 
thoroughly  national  movement  and  the  truest  national 
union.  All  Ireland  and  the  Danes  were  combined 
against  Dermot  and  the  Normans.1 

Let  us  now  strive  to  realize  what  this  Danish  city  of 
ours  was  like  just  then.  We  have  materials  enough  for 
doing  so  if  two  conditions  were  fulfilled.  First,  if  these 
materials  were  printed  ;  but  the  English  Government  and 
Treasury  will  print  nothing  for  us  unless  forced  to  do  so, 
while  they  will  print  anything  for  England  and  Scotland. 
Printing  for  the  vast  majority  of  us  is  the  first  necessary 
condition  to  render  a  manuscript  useful.  And  you  need 
not  be  ashamed  to  confess  this.  Mr.  Freeman  is  a  great 
historian.  He  was  called  upon  to  complete  the  edition 
of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  published  in  the  Rolls  Series, 
upon  the  death  of  the  original  editors;  and  in  a  note 
he  honestly  informs  us  that  he  belongs  to  that  large 
class  to  whom  a  manuscript  is  useless  till  it  has  been 
committed  to  the  printing  press."  The  other  condi- 
tion necessary  to  realize  the  state  of  Dublin  in  A.D. 
1170  is  that  we  should  have  somewhat  of  the  eye  and 
imagination  of  an  archaeologist,  and  be  able  to  recon- 
struct a  concrete  and  living  past  out  of  very  dead  and 
dry  and  dusty  details.  Ecclesiastical  annals  furnish 
us  with  the  richest  materials  for  such  reconstruction. 
The  Archbishop  of  Dublin  possesses  in  the  Crede  Mihi 
a  manuscript  dealing  with  this  diocese,  composed  about 
1275,  in  large  part  from  much  older  materials.  lie  also 
possesses  the  original  of  the  Liber  Niger,  or  Register,  of 
Archbishop  Alan,  drawn  up  in  153°  out  of  very  ancient 
documents,  while  as  for  the  bulls  and  charters  dating 

1  Morice  Regan,  ed.  Wright,  p.  75 ;  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
Expugnatio,  i.,  17. 

-  Girald.  Camb.,  opp.,  t.  vii.  (Rolls  Series),  Pref.,  p.  ciii. 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONG  BOW.  109 


from  the  last  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  in  Mr.  Gilbert's 
works,  in  the  Book  of  Christ  Church  Obits,  in  the 
Register  of  All  Hallows,  in  the  Chartcc,  Privilcgia  et  Im- 
munitates,  they  are  almost  innumerable.  Dublin  was,  as 
I  have  already  noticed,  like  old  Bristol  of  that  date.  It 
was  a  busy  trading  community  crowded  together  round 
the  top  of  a  liill  where  four  ways  met  and  four  churches 
found  a  site.  They  were  much  the  same,  too,  in  point 
of  dedication.  Each  city  had  an  Augustinian  monastery 
dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity, — the  Dublin  one  being 
the  earlier,  however;  each  had  a  St.  Werburgh's  near 
the  monastery ;  each  had  a  St.  Audoen's  similarly 
related  to  the  Cathedral.  Four  ways  crossed  one 
another  in  each  case.  From  St.  Audoen's  to  Dublin 
Castle  is  a  straight  line.  From  St.  Patrick's  through 
St.  Nicholas  Street  and  Wine  Tavern  Street  you  can 
still  walk  direct  to  the  quays.  The  city  was  then 
much  the  same  as  it  remained,  so  far  as  appearance 
and  area  were  concerned,  down  to  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  Speed  published  his  map  in  1610. 

Let  me  give  you  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  city 
walls.  The  wall  started  from  the  Castle,  ran  down  to 
the  river  near  the  present  Essex  Bridge,  then  along 
the  river  till  Wine  Tavern  Street  and  Merchants'  Quay 
were  reached.  Thence  it  took  a  southerly  direction, 
included  St.  Audoen's  Church,  and  skirted  the  base  of 
the  hill  on  which  Christ  Church  was  built,  crossing  de- 
pressions which  are  well  and  clearly  marked  to  this  day 
in  St.  Nicholas  Street  and  St.  Werburgh's  Street,  and 
finally  joining  the  castle  again  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ship  Street.1  The  city  of  Dublin  as  it  was  to  be  seen 

1  The  original  wall  of  Dublin,  as  built  by  the  Danes,  did  not  run 
so  far  west  as  Bridge  Street,  but  ran  across  Wine  Tavern  Street 
and  by  St.  Audoen's  Arch,  where  one  of  the  original  Danish 


no  IRELAND. 


when  Roderic  O'Conor  joined  the  Danes  there  to  resist 
Dermot  and  the  Normans,  was  simply  a  town  clustering 
thick  round  Christ  Church  Place  and  Hill.  There  were 
numerous  gates, — at  the  Castle,  at  Werburgh's  Street, 
at  Nicholas  Street,  and  the  Newgate  at  the  Cornmarket. 
Outside  the  walls  were  pleasant  gardens  watered  by 
the  clear  limpid  waters  of  the  Poddle  flowing  straight 
down  from  the  Dublin  Mountains.  Away  among  these 
gardens  lay  a  Celtic  village,  which  clustered  round 
the  Celtic  churches  of  St.  Bride's,  St.  Kevin's,  and  St. 
Patrick's,  not  yet  a  cathedral.  Beyond  these,  and 
extending  over  the  present  Stephen's  Green  and 
Baggotrath,  and  all  that  neighbourhood,  was  a  wood 
where  the  citizens  went  forth  duly  armed  to  hunt  the 
hare,  the  fox,  and  even  the  wolf,  following  sylvan  lanes 
which  originally  marked  out  the  site  of  the  busy  streets 
which  are  now  George  Street,  then  called  St.  George's 
Lane,  and  Camden  Street.  While,  again,  when  the 
Dublin  trader  wished  to  take  the  sea  air  he  could  ramble 
along  a  country  road,  which  in  the  course  of  half  a  mile 
took  him  to  the  distant  Convent  of  All  Saints  and  the 
Nunnery  of  St.  Mary's,  which  stood,  surrounded  by  trees, 
on  the  site  of  the  modern  Grafton  Street  and  Molesworth 
Street,  in  fields  to  the  present  day  called  in  legal 
phraseology  the  Mynchin  fields.  From  this  sketch  you 

gates  of  Dublin  still  exists.  The  wall  was  extended  to  Bridge 
Street  at  the  time  of  Bruce's  invasion  of  Ireland.  Consider- 
able portions  of  the  old  city  wall  still  exist.  The  boundary 
wall  of  Mr.  Price's  china  and  delft  warehouse  in  St.  Nicholas 
Street  is  composed  of  the  ancient  city  fortifications.  The 
base  of  one  of  the  towers  of  Newgate  can  still  be  seen  built 
into  a  house  opposite  Messrs.  Webbs'  in  the  Cornmarket.  For 
many  of  these  details  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend  Mr.  Edward 
Evans,  the  diligent  archccologist,  of  40,  Cornmarket.  Harris's 
History  of  Dublin,  chap.  Hi.,  has  a  good  account  of  the  walls 
written  a  century  and  a  half  ago ;  cf.  Gilbert's  Dublin,  passim. 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW. 


can  understand  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of 
the  position  held  by  the  united  forces  of  Danes  and 
Celts,  as  against  the  allied  armies  of  Dermot  and 
Strongbow.  The  Irish  and  Danes  held  a  strong  position 
But  the  Normans  and  Dermot  had  also  this  advantage, 
that  the  primeval  forest  flourished  close  up  to  the  city, 
and  thus  offered  opportunity  for  those  surprises  in 
which  lightly  armed  and  lightly  equipped  Irish  forces 
especially  delighted. 

So  far  as  to  the  city  and  position  to  be  assaulted. 
And  now  for  the  expedition  itself.  Morice  Regan 
gives  us  the  dates  far  more  accurately  than  Cambrensis 
does.  Waterford  was  taken  on  August  24th  ;  Dublin 
was  assaulted  on  September  2 1st,  St.  Matthew's  Day. 
Strongbow  knew  the  secret  of  modern  warfare, — that 
rapidity  of  action  is  essential  to  success.  It  was  now 
September  of  1170,  and  within  the  next  twelve  months 
Dublin  was  to  sustain  three  distinct  assaults  and 
sieges.  The  first  was  this  original  one  of  September 
1170;  the  second  took  place  about  Whitsuntide  of 
1171;  and  the  third  took  place  later  still,  in  the 
summer  or  autumn  of  the  same  year.  The  first 
assault  was  made  by  the  Normans.  It  was  successful, 
and  wrested  Dublin  from  the  Danes.  The  other  two 
assaults  were  made  by  the  Danes  and  Irish  to  recover 
the  lost  city,  and  they  utterly  failed.  Strongbow  and 
his  Normans  never  once  relaxed  the  grasp  which  they 
had  laid  upon  what  their  instincts  told  them  was  the 
very  centre  and  heart  of  national  resistance.  Let  me 
now  explain  briefly  how  Dublin  was  lost  by  the  Danes 
and  won  by  the  Normans.  Dermot  was  becoming  very 
old,  and  felt  the  day  of  his  death  approaching.  He 
was  anxious,  too,  to  pay  off  old  scores  before  his  final 
departure.  Sixty  or  seventy  years  before,  the  Dublin 


IRELAND. 


Danes  had  murdered  his  father  sitting  unsuspecting  in 
a  house,  and  cast  his  body  into  a  pit,  burying  it  not  even 
with  the  burial  of  an  ass, — which  the  Jewish  prophet 
thought  the  lowest  depth  of  degradation, — but  burying 
it  with  the  burial  of  a  dog,  for  they  flung  a  dog  into 
the  same  grave  and  covered  up  all  together.     He  hated 
them  too  because  they  were  commercial  and  prosperous, 
and  knew  how  to  defend  their  prosperity  with  a  vigorous 
right  hand.     So  he  organised  an  expedition  against  the 
Danes,  who   had    combined  with   Roderic  O'Conor  of 
Connaught.     Dermot   showed   all  his   ancient    skill   in 
this    last    expedition.     His  enemies  not  only  held  the 
city,  but  had  also  thoroughly  surrounded  it  in  the  direc- 
tion from  which  Dermot  and  his  Norman  allies  were 
expected.       The    Connaughtmen    occupied    Clondalkin 
and    the  woods    of  that    neighbourhood  lying  west   of 
Dublin.     They  dug  ditches  across  the  roads  and  paths 
which   led   then   as  now  towards   Naas  and  Blessing- 
ton  and  Carlow,  round  the  western  base  of  the  Dublin 
Mountains.      The   Dublin    Mountains  themselves   they 
neglected.     They  esteemed  them  and  their  bogs  quite 
a  sufficient  defence  against   the  march   of  the   heavy- 
armed  and  steel-clad  Normans.     And  I  do  not  wonder. 
There  is  now  a  good  military  road  across  the  Feather- 
bed   and    Killakee    and    Sally-gap    Mountains,    which 
intervene  between  Dublin  and  Glendalough,  and  drainage 
has  done  much  to  lessen  the  bogs  ;  but  even  to  this  day, 
if  you  quit  the  road   for  five  minutes,   the  most  active 
and  athletic  undergraduate,  marching  with  no  heavier 
luggage  than  a  tooth-brush  and  a  clean  collar,  will  soon 
find   himself  making   desperate  jumps  to  save  himself 
from  pits  of  bottomless  mud.     Dermot  proposed,  how- 
ever, the  bold  course,  and  Strongbow  adopted  it.     He 
knew    how   impossible   it   would    be   to  force  his  way 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW.  113 

through  plashed  woods  and  along  roads  uprooted  and 
barricaded.  He  proposed  instead  to  follow  the  way 
he  knew  well,  advancing  by  the  great  Wicklow  Road 
connecting  the  sacred  city  of  Glendalough  with  Dublin, 
and  thus  to  take  the  enemy  in  the  rear.  Dermot's  plan 
was  thoroughly  successful.  Morice  Regan  gives  us  the 
details  of  the  expedition.1  The  first  division  of  the 
army,  led  by  Miles  de  Cogan,  consisted  of  seven  hundred 
Anglo-Normans.  With  this  division  marched  Donall 
Kavanagh,  Dermot's  favourite  son,  acting  as  guide. 
Next  came  Raymond  le  Gros  with  eight  hundred 
Englishmen,  followed  by  Strongbow  with  one  thousand 
and  Dermot  with  three  thousand  Irish  soldiers,  while 
behind  all  these  followed  the  main  body  of  the  Leinster 
Celtic  forces.  They  marched  straight  for  Dublin,  and 
called  a  halt  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
modern  Rathmines,  hiding  behind  the  woods  which 
then  covered  the  whole  district ; 2  while  the  advanced 
guards  under  De  Cogan  and  Raymond  moved  close  to 
the  walls.  Dermot  and  Strongbow  sent  a  message  by 
Morice  Regan  to  Turkil,  the  Danish  prince,  demanding 
the  surrender  of  the  city  and  of  thirty  hostages.  St. 
Laurence  O'Toole  urged  the  peaceful  surrender  of  the 
city.  He  lived  at  this  time  beside  his  cathedral  of  the 
Holy  Trinity.  We  can  fix  the  very  site  of  his  palace. 

1  See  Anglo-Norman  Poem,  11.  1570 — 1700,  and  Wright's 
Preface,  p.  xxxviii. 

''A  memorial  of  this  forest  is  still  preserved  in  the  name 
Cullenswood  applied  to  so  many  streets  and  avenues.  The 
prebendal  stall  appropriated  to  the  Archbishops  in  St.  Patrick's 
is  called  Cualaun  from  this  wood.  In  the  Latin  of  Arch- 
bishop Alan  it  is  Colonia.  See  Liber  Niger  Alani  and  the 
Repertorium  Viride  in  Marsh's  Library,  and  a  paper  on  the 
Manor  of  St.  Sepulchre,  by  J.  Mills,  Esq.,  of  the  Dublin 
Record  Office,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Archaeological 
and  Historical  Society  for  Ireland,  A.D.  1889. 


114  IRELAND. 


It  occupied  the  ground  on  St.  Michael's  Hill  now 
covered  by  the  Synod  House.1  But  military  impatience 
anticipated  the  delays  of  negotiation.  Cogan  and 
Raymond  encamped  in  the  valley  where  St.  Patrick's 
now  stands,  saw  their  opportunity,  rushed  in  through 
the  gates,  and  gained  possession  of  the  city  before  even 
their  own  friends  knew  an  attack  had  begun.  Turkil 
and  the  Danes  seem  to  have  been  stricken  with  a  panic, 
or  else,  seeing  the  desperate  position  of  affairs,  rushed 
to  the  shore,  seized  their  ships,  and  sailed  off  to  the  Isle 
of  Man  and  Scotland.  Thus  Dublin  was  conquered 
September  2 1st,  1 170.  I  repeat  the  date  because  it  was 
most  important  and  most  fateful  for  the  history  of 
Ireland.  Strongbow  at  once  proceeded  to  organise  his 
dominion  there.  Communication  by  sea  was  needful 
for  his  safety,  and  that  was  now  amply  secured.  He 
placed  therefore  in  the  Castle  a  strong  garrison  under 
De  Cogan  and  Raymond,  appointed  magistrates,  issued 
charters,  made  laws,  and  then  retired  to  Ferns  for  the 
winter,  to  bide  the  time  when  he  should  succeed  to 
the  kingdom  of  his  father-in-law.'2  He  had  not  long 
to  wait.  Dermot  died  in  the  course  of  the  winter 
or  spring  of  1170-71,  which  saw  the  murder  of 
Thomas  a  Becket.  Giraldus  indeed  fixes  the  exact 
date  as  the  Calends  or  first  of  May.  The  manuscript 
j:\nnals  of  Dudley  Loftus  in  Marsh's  Library  make  it 
the  Nones  or  7th  of  May.  The  Four  Masters  record 
under  the  year  1171  his  death  with  national  bitterness. 

1  See  the  Refartorium  Viride,  p.  i,  in  Marsh's  Library, 
where  we  find  St.  Michael's  Church  described  thus  :  "  Unde 
infra  moenia  urbis  ecclesia  ista  parochialis  a  primaivia  funda- 
tione  capellae  extitit  infra  pallatium  Sli.  Laurentii." 

-  Strongbow  issued  charters  before  Henry  II.  arrived  in  1171. 
Two  such  charters  to  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin,  are  contained 
in  Gilbert's  Chartularics  of  St.  Mary's,  t.  i.,  pp.  78,  83. 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW.  115 

"  Diarmaid  MacMurchadha,  King  of  Leinster,  by  whom 
a  trembling  sod  was  made  of  all  Ireland,  after  having 
brought  over  the  Saxons,  after  having  done  extensive 
injuries  to  the  Irish,  after  plundering  and  burning  many 
churches  at  Kells,  Clonard,  etc.,  died  before  the  end 
of  a  year  of  an  insufferable  and  unknown  disease,  for 
he  became  putrid  while  living,  through  the  miracle  of 
God,  of  Colum-Cille,  of  Finnian,  and  of  the  other 
saints  of  Ireland,  whose  churches  he  had  profaned 
and  burned  some  time  before ;  and  he  died  at  Ferns 
without  making  a  will,  without  penance,  without  the 
body  of  Christ,  and  without  unction  as  his  evil  deeds 
deserved." 

Strongbow  now  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  Leinster 
according  to  treaty,  though,  according  to  Irish  law  and 
usage,  he  should  have  been  elected  by  the  tribes  of 
his  kingdom.1  He  set  himself  at  once  to  the  work  of 
organising  the  principality  upon  feudal  principles, 
appointing  officials — seneschal,  constable,  chancellor, 
as  they  were  known  in  England.  Strongbow  was  not, 
however,  left  long  in  peaceable  possession.  As  soon 
as  Dermot's  death  was  known  throughout  Ireland,  the 
native  chiefs  raised  an  insurrection,  or  rather  we  should 
perhaps  say  organised  another  national  movement  to 
repel,  once  and  for  all,  the  intruding  foreigners.  Roderic 
O'Conor,  as  supreme  king,  assembled  an  army  sixty 
thousand  strong,  towards  which  the  leading  princes 
of  Ireland  contributed  their  share.  They  all  moved 
towards  Dublin.  Dunleavy  of  Ulster  encamped  at 
Clontarf,  O'Brian  of  Munster  at  Kilmainham,  Murtogh 
O'Kinsalagh,  from  Wexford,  at  Dalkey,  while  Gothred, 

1  See  Richey's  Short  History  of  the  Irish  People,  2nd 
edition,  pp.  48-50,  upon  Irish  regal  elections  and  the  custom 
of  Tanistry. 


n6  IRELAND. 

the  Danish  prince  of  Man,  and  other  roving  Northmen, 
assisted  by  blockading  the  port  of  Dublin  and  cutting 
off  its  supplies  by  sea.  The  infant  colony  was  once 
again  in  mortal  peril.  Dermot  recognised  the  great- 
ness of  the  danger  imminent  over  his  enterprise.  He 
marched  from  Ferns,  flung  himself  into  the  threat- 
ened city,  and  summoned  his  scattered  adherents  from 
every  quarter.  Among  others,  he  sent  for  succour  to 
Robert  FitzStephen,  the  first  invader,  who  commanded 
at  Carrig,  the  fort  which  dominated  and  secured 
Wexford.1  FitzStephen  despatched  to  Strongbow's 
assistance  thirty-six  men-at-arms,  which  so  weakened 
his  garrison  that  the  men  of  Wexford  forced  him  to 
surrender,  massacred  the  common  soldiers,  retaining 
FitzStephen  himself  and  a  few  of  his  chief  men  in 
prison  on  Beg-Erin,  an  island  which  then  existed  in 
Wexford  Harbour,  though  it  has  disappeared  of  late 
years  as  an  island,  owing  to  the  reclamations  of  slob 
lands  which  have  been  carried  out.  The  siege  of 
Dublin  lasted  for  some  two  months,  till  at  last  provi- 
sions began  to  run  very  scarce.  The  Earl  called  a 
council,  and  laid  before  them  the  state  of  affairs.  He 
proposed  to  send  an  embassy  to  King  Roderic  O'Conor, 
offering  terms  of  peace,  and  promising  to  hold  Leinster 
from  him  as  the  superior  lord  thereof.  St.  Laurence 
O'Toole,  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  was  the  ambassador 
selected  for  this  purpose,  but  he  returned  with  a  message 
so  hostile  that  the  council  determined  upon  immediate 
attack.  They  resolved  to  conquer  or  perish  in  the 


1  See  Girald.  Cambrensis,  Expug.  Hib.,  i.,  n,  25  ;  Moricc 
Regan  in  Harris's  Hibcrnica,  p.  11.  This  ancient  fort  of 
Carrig  is  pictured  in  Hall's  Picturesque  Ireland.  It  still 
exists,  occupying  a  very  formidable  position  a  couple  of  miles 
north  of  Wexford. 


THE  INl'ASION  OF  STRONG  BOW.  117 


attempt.  The  siege  of  Dublin  seems  to  have  been 
conducted  by  the  Irish  kings  in  a  very  leisurely  fashion. 
The  various  princes  had  their  different  encampments ; 
they  and  their  soldiers  were  enjoying  themselves 
thoroughly,  and  seem  to  have  been  utterly  careless  of 
all  the  ordinary  precautions  of  warfare,  such  as  sentries, 
guards,  and  outposts.  Boldness,  as  usual,  carried  the 
day.  The  total  available  fighting  force  possessed  by 
Strongbow  consisted  of  some  six  hundred  men,  which, 
for  the  purpose  of  attack,  he  divided  into  three  com- 
panies. Myles  deCogan  led  the  van  with  two  hundred, 
followed  by  Raymond  le  Gros  with  two  hundred  more, 
while  Strongbow  himself  brought  up  the  rear  with  the 
same  number.  The  bold  attempt  was  crowned  with 
complete  success.  The  Normans  marched  first  against 
Dunleavy  and  the  Ulster  contingent,  who  were  encamped 
at  Finglas.  The  enemy  were  careless  and  secure.  "  In 
the  name  of  God,"  said  Cogan,  as  he  approached 
the  rude  encampment  of  huts  made  of  turf  and  sods 
and  wattles,  "  let  us  this  day  try  our  valour  upon  these 
savages  or  die  like  men ; "  and  then,  suiting  the  action 
to  his  words,  and  raising  the  Welsh  national  war-cry, 
"  St.  David  for  ever ! "  rushed  headlong  among  the 
astonished  Celts,  carrying  death  and  destruction  wher- 
ever he  went.  The  battle  was  short  but  decisive.  Panic 
fear  seized  the  Irish,  they  dispersed  in  every  direction, 
communicated  their  fears  to  their  allies  in  the  other 
encampments,  who  likewise  dispersed,  and  the  siege  of 
Dublin  was  terminated  ;  while,  as  if  to  show  the  cause 
of  their  careless  security,  Morice  Regan  tells  us  that  in 
the  camp  of  the  Ulster  men  "a  store  of  baggage  was 
gotten,  and  such  quantities  of  corn,  meal,  and  pork, 
as  was  sufficient  to  victual  the  city  for  a  whole  year." 
A  fulness  of  bread  had  wrought  havoc  with  the  mental 


uS  IRELAND. 

and  moral  calibre  of  the  Irish,  as  with  that  of  the  men 
of  Sodom  of  old.1 

After  this  battle  Strongbow  went  southwards  to 
Wexford,  leaving  Myles  de  Cogan  to  hold  the  fortress 
of  Dublin.  He  wished  to  chastise  the  men  of 
Wexford  for  their  rebellion,  and  he  desired  above 
all  to  watch  King  Henry's  movements,  for  that  sove- 
reign was  becoming  increasingly  hostile  and  suspicious 
of  Strongbow's  intentions.  During  his  southern  pro- 
gress Dublin  was  again  assailed  by  a  fresh  danger. 
Hasculf  MacTurkil,  the  former  prince  of  Dublin, 
allying  himself  with  various  branches  of  the  northern 
rovers,  and  specially  with  a  body  of  Norwegians  under 
a  noted  leader,  John  le  Dene,  sailed  back  to  Dublin. 
Cogan  was,  however,  again  successful.  He  made  a 
compact  with  a  chief  who  ruled  the  country  south 
and  west  of  Dublin,  called  Gillemoholmock.2  Cogan 
simply  stipulated  that  he  should  remain  neutral  during 
the  fight,  watching  the  progress  of  the  fray,  and 
then  should  fall  upon  the  defeated  party.  We  can 
trace  all  the  details  of  the  fight  in  Morice  Regan's 


1  Morice  Regan's  Norman  poem,  1.  1,916,  p.  92  in  Wright's 
edition,  or  p.  12  in  Harris's  Hibcrnica. 

- 1  have  already  said  something  about  this  clan  and  its 
possessions.  See  more  about  them  in  Gilbert's  Chartularies 
of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  i.,  31-7.  This  prince  was  probably 
Donald  Gillemoholmock,  who  married  Dervorgil,  a  grand- 
daughter of  Dcrmot  MacMurrough.  This  Donald  appears  as 
a  witness  to  King  Dcrmot's  charter  to  All  Saints'  Priory, 
Dublin,  granting  the  lands  of  Baldoyle,  now  owned  by  the 
Corporation  of  Dublin,  who  hold  in  direct  succession  from  the 
said  priory,  which  is  now  Trinity  College.  See  Rcgistrum 
Priorains  Omnium  Sanctorum,  juxta  J)nbliii.,  ed.  by  Rev. 
R.  Butler  (Dublin  :  1845),  in  the  Irish  Archaeological  Series, 
p.  50.  St.  Michael's  Lane,  near  the  Synod  House,  in  Dublin, 
was  formerly  called  after  this  clan.  See  \V.  Harris's 
Hibernica,  p.  15,  and  note  on  p.  8  of  this  work, 


THE  INVASION  OF  STRONGBOW.  119 

poem.  The  battle  was  fought  on  the  strand  of  Dublin, 
which  then  intervened  between  the  modern  Cork  Hill 
and  the  site  of  Trinity  College,  while  Gillemoholmock 
looked  on  from  the  wooded  heights  which  then  occupied 
Stephen's  Green  and  its  neighbourhood.  The  Danes, 
leaving  their  ships,  marched  boldly  to  the  attack  of 
the  eastern  gate,  which  stood  at  the  foot  of  Cork  Hill. 
Myles  de  Cogan  had  not  a  large  army,  but  he  utilised 
his  ground.  He  ordered  his  brother,  Richard  de  Cogan, 
to  take  three  hundred  of  his  cavalry,  and,  issuing  out  of 
the  southern  gates  in  St.  Werburgh's  and  St.  Nicholas' 
streets,  to  fall  upon  the  rear  of  the  Northmen  when 
the  fray  waxed  fiercest.-  Success  again  smiled  upon 
Anglo-Norman  skill  and  courage.  To  any  persons 
who  know  the  ground,  and  the  many  passages  corre- 
sponding to  ancient  rural  lanes  which  lead  from  the 
south  of  the  old  Danish  city  round  to  the  former 
strand  of  the  Liffey,  now  represented  by  College 
Green,  Dame  Street,  and  the  adjacent  streets,  the 
plan  of  the  battle  and  the  wisdom  of  Cogan  is  self- 
evident.  The  assailants  were  utterly  defeated.  Myles 
de  Cogan  himself  slew  John  le  Dene  after  performing 
prodigies  of  valour.  Hasculf  MacTurkil  was  taken 

1  See  pp.  107-19  in  Wright's  edition,  or  pp.  14-16  in  Harris's 
Hibernica. 

-  St.  Werburgh's  and  St.  Nicholas'  gates  are  even  still  marked 
by  depressions  in  the  streets  called  by  these  names.  They  are 
connected  by  lanes  which  once  led  the  traveller  by  paths 
just  outside  the  walls.  Morice  Regan  calls  the  eastern  gate, 
St.  Mary's  Gate,  La  Porte  Seint-Marie,  or  Dame's  Gate, — that 
is,  Our  Lady's  Gate,  the  name  by  which  it  was  known  till  its 
demolition  in  the  last  century.  Ware  and  Harris  both  tell  us 
that  an  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  occupied  a  position  over 
it  till  the  Reformation  ;  and  Harris  says  the  pediment  of  the 
statue  remained  in  his  own  time.  The  stones  of  the  gateway 
now  form  the  pedestal  of  King  William's  statue  on  College 
Green. 


120  IRELAND. 

prisoner,  and  without  further  ceremony  beheaded,  on 
account  of  an  insolent  speech  made  to  the  victor ;  while 
the  remnant,  escaping  from  the  pursuit  of  Gillemo- 
nolmock,  who,  true  to  his  promise,  fell  upon  the  defeated 
party,  escaped  to  their  ships.  Strongbow  was  thus 
successful  enough  in  Ireland ;  yet  he  was  exceedingly 
uneasy,  and  his  Celtic  foes  seem  to  have  been  aware  of 
the  cause  of  his  uneasiness.  He  feared  the  hostility 
of  Henry  II.,  who  had  already  cut  off  all  supplies 
from  England.  The  Wexford  men  had  even  made  it  a 
pretext  for  resistance  to  Strongbow,  that  he  was  a 
rebel  against  his  own  liege  sovereign.  The  Earl  felt  it 
necessary,  therefore,  to  cross  to  England  and  propitiate 
King  Henry,  whose  army  was  now  assembling  in  the 
west  for  the  invasion  of  Ireland.  The  first  adventurers 
had,  in  fact,  done  their  work.  They  had  prepared  the 
ground,  and  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  earlier 
day.  The  dominating  personage  of  King  Henry  II. 
now  appears  on  the  scene,  to  reap  the  full  fruits  of  the 
harvest. 


LECTURE  VI. 
HENRY  II.  AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST. 

THE  reign  of  Henry  II.  was  a  very  remarkable 
epoch  in  English  history.  Two  of  our  greatest, 
I  should  perhaps  say  rather  our  two  greatest  living 
historians,  Bishop  Stubbs  and  Professor  Freeman,  warm 
into  enthusiasm  in  describing  the  great  work  which 
Henry  II.  did  for  England.  He  introduced  order  where 
anarchy  reigned.  He  reduced  to  submission  a  proud 
and  oppressive  nobility.  He  laid  the  foundations  of 
that  marvellous  system  of  law  which  now,  through  its 
extension  to  the  United  States  and  to  our  Colonies, 
dominates  some  of  the  most  populous  and  prosperous 
States  in  the  world. 

His  history  was  a  very  chequered  one.  If  you  wish 
to  study  it, — and  it  has  a  very  direct  bearing  on  our 
own  local  Irish  history, — you  should  read  the  fifth 
volume  of  Mr.  Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  embracing 
the  period  from  1068  to  1265,  or  the  last  chapters  of 
Bishop  Stubbs'  first  volume  of  his  Constitutional  History. 
Freeman  divides  Henry's  reign  into  three  periods.  First 
the  period  when  he  was  busied  with  the  restoration  of 
order  in  England  after  Stephen's  anarchy.  This  covered 
from  1155—1165.  Secondly,  the  period  of  his  disputes 
with  Thomas  a  Becket,  from  1165  — 1170.  Thirdly,  the 
period  of  his  domestic  and  civil  wars,  the  period  of  un- 


IRELAND. 


happiness,  disaster,  and  failure,  extending  from  1170 — 
1 189.  The  most  famous  of  these  three  periods  is  that  of 
his  quarrel  with  Thomas  a  Becket,  terminating  with  the 
murder  of  that  prelate  at  Christmas  1170.  During  that 
winter  of  1170,  Strongbow  was  holding  Dublin,  and 
fortifying  himself  there  against  the  threatened  attacks 
of  Irish  Celts  combined  with  those  Scandinavians 
whose  invasions  were  yet  a  real  danger,  dreaded  even 
by  the  now  powerful  civilized  and  united  England. 
The  murder  of  Thomas  a  Becket  was  at  once  regarded 
by  Henry  II.  in  its  true  light.  With  a  politician's  in- 
sight he  saw  it  to  be  much  worse  than  a  crime.  It  was  a 
gross  blunder.  He  applied  at  once  to  Rome  for  absolu- 
tion from  all  share  in  the  guilt.  The  Pope  despatched 
a  formal  legation  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances. 
Henry  II.  determined  to  keep  out  of  the  way,  so  as  to 
avoid  all  unpleasant  or  inconvenient  questions.  He 
crossed  from  France  to  England  in  August  1171,  and 
thence  proceeded  to  Ireland  in  the  course  of  the  same 
autumn.  This  is  Bishop  Stubbs'  account  of  King 
Henry's  actions.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  very  imper- 
fect. The  murder  of  Thomas  a  Becket  and  its  conse- 
quences would  seem  from  it  the  only  impelling  motive 
to  the  conquest  of  Ireland.  Original  documents  printed 
since  Dr.  Stubbs  wrote  his  Constitutional  History  reveal 
the  fact  that  Henry  was  moved  by  quite  other  and 
perhaps  more  powerful  motives  as  well.  Let  us  strive 
to  realize  them. 

Henry  II.  had  put  down  the  power  of  the  rebel 
barons  who  threatened,  under  King  Stephen,  to  establish 
jurisdictions  rival  to  that  of  the  Crown.  Count  Richard, 
whom  we  call  Strongbow,  and  his  father  had  been 
typical  leaders  among  the  rebel  barons.  Henry  II.  had 
watched  them  narrowly,  had  lessened  their  powers, 


HENRY  II.   AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    123 

circumscribed  their  jurisdiction,  banished  them  when  he 
could  to  the  Welsh  borders  to  wear  themselves  out  in 
warfare  with  the  bold  and  hardy  Celts.  But  now  he 
saw  a  fresh  danger  growing  up.  Count  Richard  Fitz- 
Gilbert,  availing  himself  of  the  king's  letters  patent 
authorising  King  Dermot  MacMurrough  to  get  assistance 
whenever  he  could,  had  allied  himself  with  the  Irish 
prince,  had  become  the  recognised  heir  of  his  kingdom, 
and  threatened  to  set  up  an  independent  kingdom  within 
forty  miles  of  England,  where  Norman  skill  would  be 
united  to  Celtic  wit  and  bravery, — a  dangerous  com- 
bination, of  which  Henry  II.  had  already  got  quite 
enough  in  the  intrigues  of  the  Fitz-Gerald  and  other 
factions  of  the  Welsh  borders.  The  record  of  Strongbow's 
successes  during  the  autumn  of  1170  did  not  please 
him.  He  issued  orders  from  France,  that  no  one  should 
attempt  to  proceed  to  Ireland  without  his  special  per- 
mission. This  act  was  no  arbitrary  one.  It  was  quite 
in  accordance  with  our  modern  notions.  The  Foreign 
Enlistment  Act  still  prohibits  any  attempts  to  enlist 
forces  for  warfare  with  any  state  or  kingdom  at  peace 
with  our  own  ;  and  King  Henry  only  acted  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  British  legislation  when  he  pro- 
hibited any  succour  or  armed  assistance  proceeding  to 
Strongbow.  Giraldus  tells  us  the  story  very  pithily  in 
the  nineteenth  chapter  of  his  first  book.  "  Reports  having 
been  spread  abroad  of  these  events,  which  were  much 
exaggerated,  and  the  Earl  having  made  himself  master, 
not  only  of  Leinster,  but  of  other  territories  to  which 
he  had  no  just  claims  in  right  of  his  wife,  the  King  of 
England  made  a  proclamation  that  in  future  no  ship 
sailing  from  any  part  of  his  dominions  should  carry 
anything  to  Ireland,  and  that  all  his  subjects  who  had 
been  at  any  time  conveyed  there  should  return  before 


124  IRELAND. 

the  ensuing  Easter  (that  is,  the  Easter  of  1171),  on  pain 
of  forfeiting  all  their  lands  and  being  banished  from 
the  kingdom  for  ever."  This  proclamation  was  issued 
in  the  autumn  or  early  winter  of  1170.  The  Earl 
received  intelligence  of  it,  and  at  once  despatched 
Raymond  le  Gros  to  Aquitaine  as  an  ambassador  to  the 
king,  deprecating  his  wrath,  pleading  his  own  letters 
patent  as  his  authority  for  invading  Ireland,  and  offering 
to  hold  all  his  lands  and  conquests  in  the  country  as 
fiefs  dependent  upon  Henry  and  subject  to  his  supreme 
authority.  All  this  occurred,  according  to  Giraldus,  in 
the  winter  of  1170-71;  say  between  the  months  of 
October  and  March  of  that  period. 

Now  behold  an  interesting  illustration  of  the  accuracy 
of  Giraldus,  and  a  most  striking  illustration  of  the  utility, 
in  a  historical  point  of  view,  of  those  very  dry-as-dust  in- 
vestigations which  have  been  proceeding  for  the  last  fifty 
years  in  the  great  record  repositories  of  England.  Take 
up  a  book  with  a  very  long  unwieldy  title,  the  Calendar 
of  Documents  relating  to  Ireland  preserved  in  Her 
Majesty's  Public  Record  Office,  London.  It  will  give  some 
idea  of  the  vast  store  of  manuscript  materials  touching 
upon  Irish  affairs  preserved  in  London,  when  I  tell  you 
that  this  volume  consists  of  nearly  six  hundred  pages, 
that  it  contains  more  than  3,200  abstracts  of  distinct 
documents,  for  the  most  part  extending  to  four  or  five 
lines  merely,  and  yet  it  only  covers  a  period  of  eighty 
years,  from  1171  — 1251.  The  first  eighty-four  of  the 
abstracts  deal  with  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  and  the 
actions  and  deeds  of  the  conquest,  and  there  in  the  very 
beginning  we  find  a  notice  of  this  proclamation  against 
aiding  or  assisting  Strongbow,  mentioned  by  Cambrensis. 
In  the  fourth  abstract  we  have  a  notice  from  the  Pipe 
Roll  accounts  of  1 170  to  the  following  effect : — "  Robert 


HENRY  II.  AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    125 


Fitz-Bernard,  Sheriff  of  Devonshire,  renders  his  account 
of  6s.  out  of  the  land  of  Geoffrey  Cophin,  who  went  into 
Ireland  against  the  King's  command ;  paid  into  the 
Treasury  and  he  is  quit."  Again,  abstract  No.  24,  under 
date  1171-72,  tells  us:  "The  Sheriffs  of  Bucks  and 
Bedfordshire  render  their  account  of  125.  out  of  the 
land  in  Edingrava  of  Peter  Morell,  who  went  into  Ireland 
against  the  King's  command  ;  paid  into  the  Treasury 
and  they  are  quit."  And  there  are  others  telling  the  same 
tale,  showing  that  while  the  king's  proclamation  was  no 
dead  letter,  it  was  also  violated  by  many  an  adventur- 
ous spirit  who  flocked  to  the  standard  of  Strongbow 
leaving  his  landed  property  in  England  to  pay  the 
penalty. 

Henry  II.  returned  to  England  from  France  in 
the  summer  of  1171.  Dr.  Stubbs  thinks  a  desire  to 
keep  out  of  the  way  of  the  Papal  legates  sent  to  investi- 
gate the  circumstances  of  Becket's  murder  sufficiently 
accounts  for  Henry's  expedition  to  Ireland.  I  think,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  the  king  had  quite  distinct  and  far 
deeper  and  wiser  motives  for  his  action.  He  feared 
Strongbow.  He  was  a  vigorous  man,  of  the  same 
blood  and  family  as  himself.  He  was  one  of  those 
barons  who  had  bearded  Stephen  and  Henry  himself 
in  his  earlier  days,  rendering  England  a  howling 
wilderness  through  their  exactions  and  oppressions. 
Strongbow  now  threatened  to  set  up  a  new  and  inde- 
pendent state  right  under  his  nose,  just  forty  miles 
across  from  St.  David's  Head  ;  and  Henry  determined 
to  crush  Strongbow  before  he  became  too  strong. 
Ireland  in  Celtic  hands  and  ruled  by  Celtic  princes  ever 
at  war  amongst  themselves  was  one  thing,  and  might 
be  despised ;  Ireland  in  hands  half  Norman  and  half 
Welsh,  hostile  to  English  rule  and  to  the  descendants  of 


126  IRELAND. 


the  Conqueror,  and  offering  a  refuge  for  every  rebel 
and  opponent,  was  quite  another  thing,  and  must  be 
reckoned  with.  Henry  II.  was  a  great  prince,  and  he 
went  about  all  his  work  systematically  and  thoroughly. 
He  planned  the  invasion  of  Ireland,  or  rather  his  attack 
upon  his  rebellious  lieges,  and  his  conquest  of  Strongbow 
very  carefully.  We  can  trace  the  rise,  the  progress, 
and  the  development  of  the  expedition  in  the  entries  of 
the  Calendar  to  which  I  have  just  referred.  He  first 
conceived  the  notion  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  news  of 
Strongbow's  departure  for  Ireland.  He  at  once  saw 
that  the  matter  was  becoming  serious.  The  Fitz-Geralds 
and  their  expedition  he  did  not  mind.  But  now  that 
the  heir  of  the  great  titles  of  De  Clare  and  Pembroke, 
a  man  of  his  own  kith  and  kin,  had  taken  the  matter 
up,  he  felt  that  he  must  attend  to  it.  He  issued  orders 
to  collect  an  army  to  invade  Ireland  in  the  summer  or 
autumn  of  1170.  We  can  trace  every  single  step  of 
the  process,  and  read  the  particulars  and  details  of  the 
armaments,  provisions,  and  ships,  with  well-nigh  as 
much  fulness  as  if  we  were  studying  the  last  Egyptian 
expedition. 

Henry  II.  had  invented  a  new  process  for  raising 
an  army,  or,  to  use  modern  language,  he  had  perfected 
a  new  scheme  of  military  mobilisation.  Let  me  explain. 
Hitherto  the  Norman  kings  raised  an  army  when  they 
wanted  one  by  calling  upon  the  barons  and  knights,  who 
held  their  properties  by  military  tenures,  to  come  and 
discharge  their  duties.  The  knights  and  barons  came 
to  the  assembly  attended  by  a  number  of  men-at-arms 
and  inferior  soldiers  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  land 
held  by  them.  Henry  II.  substituted  a  tax  called 
scutage  for  the  personal  service  thus  rendered.  This 
arrangement  suited  both  parties  :  the  barons  and 


HENRY  II.   AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    127 


knights  got  rid  of  a  troublesome  duty ;  the  king  became 
independent  of  unwilling  subjects.  It  was  a  dangerous 
exchange,  however,  for  the  barons,  since  they  thus  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  king  the  means  of  raising  a 
mercenary  army  dependent  solely  upon  himself,  which 
he  could  use  to  crush  opposition  or  revolt  on  their  part. 
The  strength  of  the  Crown  became  in  fact  the  weakness 
and  destruction  of  the  nobility.  This  scutage  was  first 
collected  in  1156.  It  was  repeated  in  1 159  and  1161, 
and  in  1170  was  again  imposed  for  the  purpose  of  the 
Irish  invasion.1  The  sheriffs  of  the  different  counties 
were  directed  to  purchase  provisions,  arms,  accoutre- 
ments, and  forward  them  to  Bristol,  whither  the  army 
was  directed  to  assemble. 

The  details  of  the  purchases  made  by  the  sheriffs 
will  be  found  in  this  Calendar.'2  The  very  first  entry, 
dated  about  October  or  November,  1170,  shows  that  no 
part  of  England,  even  the  most  distant,  was  exempt 
from  contributing  to  this  Irish  expedition,  which  was  a 
great  national  movement,  in  which  the  whole  nation  took 
part,  and  for  which  the  whole  nation  was  responsible. 
The  earliest  entry,  dated  1 170-71,  tells  how  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk  contributed  their  share,  through  Bartholomew 
de  Glanville,3  Wimar  the  chaplain,  and  William  Bardul, 
who  render  their  account  for  three  hundred  and  twenty 
hogs  sent  to  the  army  of  Ireland,  which  cost  £26  \6s.  ^d.t 


1  See  Madox,  Hist,  of  tlic  Exchequer,  ch.  xv. ;  Stubbs,  Const. 
Hist.,  i.,  582  ;  and  Thorold  Rogers,  Six  Cent,  of  Work  and 
Jf^ages,  Introd.,  p.  xxix. 

-  Pipe  17,  Henry  II.,  Roll  i. 

3  Bartholomew  was  brother  of  the  famous  justiciary  and 
legal  writer,  Ranult'  de  Glanville,  whom  we  shall  meet  later 
on  as  Sheriff  of  Norfolk.  Bartholomew  was  associated  with 
Wimar,  one  of  the  king's  chaplains.  The  royal  chaplains  dis- 
charged a  large  part  of  the  executive  work  of  the  royal  court. 


128  IRELAND. 


not  quite  2s.  per  hog ;  for  making  bridges,  hurdles,  and 
other  ship's  apparel,  £6  55.  $d. ;  and  for  six  handmills 
with  their  appendages  145.  4</.,  all  ordered  by  the  king's 
writ.  I  have  selected  this  entry  because  it  is  the  first, 
and  because  it  shows  how  widespread  throughout  Eng- 
land were  the  preparations  for  the  king's  invasion.  But 
there  are  other  entries  far  more  interesting.  We  can 
trace  the  various  kinds  of  food  used,  and  the  prices  paid 
for  them.  Dorset  and  Somerset  supply  wheat,  beans, 
cheese.  Hogs  appear  in  vast  numbers, — bacon  and  pork 
evidently  were  the  favourite  food  with  the  soldiers  of 
those  times.1  Lancaster  and  Carlisle  supply  wooden 
towers  for  attacking  towns  and  castles.  The  spade 
and  the  pickaxe  were  as  important  in  the  middle  ages 
as  they  are  in  modern  warfare.  Gloucester,  therefore, 
from  its  contiguity  to  the  great  iron  districts,  furnishes 
two  thousand  pickaxes,  one  thousand  spades,  one 
thousand  shovels,  sixty  thousand  nails,  and  iron  for 
two  thousand  spades.  Stafford  sends  one  hundred  and 
forty  axes,  one  hundred  and  forty  spades,  and  seven 
thousand  nails.  The  See  of  Winchester,  in  keeping 
with  its  ecclesiastical  character,  supplies  more  peaceful 
articles.  Thus  we  read  that  Richard,  Archdeacon  of 
Poitiers,  rendered  his  account  for  one  thousand  pounds 
of  wax  sent  into  Ireland,  12s.  lod.  ;  five  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  pounds  of  almonds  sent  to  the  king  in  that 
country,  £$  i8s.  yd. ;  twenty-five  ells  of  red  scarlet  cloth 
for  the  king's  use,  £6  I'js.  6d. ;  and  twenty-six  ells  of 
green,  ,£3  135.  Sd. ;  ten  pairs  of  boots,  155.  The 
medical  supply  and  the  doctor  were  not  forgotten,  and 
thus  we  read  that  the  same  See  of  Winchester  supplied 
Joseph  the  doctor,  who  was  probably  a  monk,  with 


See  note  on  p.  140. 


HENRY  II.    AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    129 


spices  and  electuaries  to  the  extent  of  ^10  Js.  Qd., — a 
very  respectable  allowance  considering  the  value  of 
money.  The  whole  series  of  entries,  covering  some 
eight  or  nine  closely-printed  pages,  are  most  interesting 
reading  from  every  point  of  view.  Considering  them 
in  a  military  light,  they  show  us  how  mediaeval  armies 
were  equipped  ;  while  from  a  social  and  political  point 
of  view,  they  give  us  a  glimpse  into  the  inner  life,  the 
manners,  habits,  employments,  the  whole  organisation  of 
the  age,  displaying  at  the  same  time  an  authentic  record 
of  prices  more  than  seven  centuries  ago. 

After  six  months  and  more  of  such  elaborate  prepara- 
tions, King  Henry  left  France,  landed  at  Portsmouth 
August  3rd,  1 171,  and  then  marched  to  the  neighbourhood 
of  St.  David's,  collecting  a  fleet  of  some  four  hundred 
vessels  to  the  port  of  Milford.1  Strongbow,  who  was  on 
the  opposite  coast  of  Wexford,  was  kept  fully  informed  of 
these  preparations.  He  despatched  messenger  after  mes- 
senger to  appease  Henry's  wrath,  and  at  last,  taking  ship, 
met  the  king  near  Gloucester,  where  he  made  his  sub- 
mission, promising  to  put  him  in  peaceable  possession 
of  Dublin  and  of  all  the  fortresses  and  seaports  of  the 
kingdom,  holding  his  other  conquests  as  fiefs  dependent 
on  the  feudal  supremacy  of  the  crown  of  England. 
Strongbow  thus  surrendered  his  dream  of  establishing 


1  The  Welsh  chronicle  Brut-y-Tyysysogian  (Rolls  Series) 
p.  213,  gives  very  minute  details  of  King  Henry's  progress. 
He  arrived  at  Pembroke  about  September  20th,  having  been 
expected  on  September  8th.  He  dined  with  David  Fitz-Gerald, 
Bishop  of  St.  David's,  on  Saturday,  September  2gth  ;  at- 
tempted to  sail  for  Ireland  on  October  i4th,  but  was  driven 
back  by  the  west  winds  which  prevailed  all  that  autumn, 
making  the  season  very  wet  and  destructive  to  the  crops  ; 
"for  it  was  a  misty  season,  and  then  scarcely  any  ripe  corn 
could  be  had  in  any  part  of  Wales." 


IRELAND. 


an  independent  principality  across  the   Irish   Sea,  and 
King  Henry  got  rid  of  a  very  pressing  danger. 

After  some  considerable  delay  the  king  set  sail  for 
Waterford  on  October  i6th,  1171,  having  sent  his  sene- 
schal William  Fitz-Adelm  and  some  other  members  of 
his  household  to  make  preparations  for  his  arrival.  His 
landing-place  was  on  the  western  shore  of  Waterford 
Harbour,  between  the  towns  of  Dunmore  and  Passage. 
The  exact  spot  where  the  first  English  king  landed  in 
Ireland  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an  elaborate 
memoir  by  the  late  Rev.  James  Graves  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society  for  1856-7,  p.  385. 
From  it  I  quote  the  following  passage,  marked  by  all 
that  local  knowledge  combined  with  wide  historical 
reading  which  make  Mr.  Graves's  communications 
models  of  their  kind.  Mr.  Graves  says:  "When 
Henry's  fleet  entered  the  Waterford  Harbour,  their 
first  care  would  be  to  look  for  a  safe  anchorage.  This 
the  Waters  of  Passage  afforded  them.  The  navigation 
of  the  Suir  was  probably  unknown  to  the  seamen,  or  the 
king  would  have  proceeded  higher  up  the  river.  At 
all  events,  we  know  that  he  landed  at  Crook,  just  below 
Passage,  and  marched  thence  some  seven  miles  to 
Waterford.  At  present,  except  at  the  top  of  a  very 
high  spring-tide,  it  would  be  difficult  to  land  forces 
under  Crook  ;  but  we  may  well  suppose  that  the  tidal 
currents  which  have,  within  the  memory  of  man,  filled 
up  the  boat-clocks  at  Passage  (a  little  higher  up),  may 
during  the  six  centuries  which  have  elapsed  since 
Henry's  debarkation  have  materially  added  to  the  shoal 
which  extends  from  the  shore  of  Crook  to  a  consider- 
able distance  into  the  harbour." J  Mr.  Graves  then 


1  Mr.  ClravL's,  in  the  same  paper,  Journal  of  the   Kilkenny 
Arch.'cological  Society,  t.  i.,  N.S.  (1856-57),  p.  386,  gives  the 


HENRY  II.    AND   ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    131 


notes  an  extraordinary  instance  of  the  crass  blunders 
perpetrated  by  men  who  undertake  to  edit  chronicles 
and  histories  dealing  with  Irish  matters,  though  them- 
selves utterly  devoid  of  all  knowledge  of  either  Irish 
history  or  Irish  geography.  I  have  already  in  a 
previous  lecture  given  you  an  instance  of  this  in  Mr. 
Wright's  edition  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis.  He  trans- 
ports Kinsale  from  the  county  Cork,  and  moves  it  by 
the  magic  witchery  of  his  pen  fifty  or  sixty  miles  east, 
placing  it  in  the  county  Wexford.1  Mr.  Graves  exposes 
another  blunder  equally  gross  and  stupid.  Hoveden 
was  a  historian  and  chronicler  of  Henry  II. 's  time  to 
whom  we  owe  many  valuable  details.  His  Chronicle 
has  now  been  splendidly  edited  in  the  Master  of  the 
Rolls  Series  by  that  eminent  historian  Dr.  Stubbs,  the 
present  Bishop  of  Oxford.  Thirty-five  years  ago  a 


following  interesting  sketch  of  the  exact  spot  designated  by 
Hoveden  : — "  A  glance  at  any  good  map  of  Ireland,  but  more 
especially  at  those  models  of  all  good  surveys,  the  Ordnance 
Maps  of  the  district,  will  indicate  the  position  of  the  parish  of 
Crook,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  noble  harbour  of  Waterford, 
below  and  close  to  the  secure  anchorage  of  Passage,  where 
Queen  Victoria  lay-to  in  her  splendid  steam  yacht  for  a  night, 
on  the  occasion  of  her  first  visit  to  Jreland.  A  low  sandy 
beach,  with  clay  cliffs,  intermixed  here  and  there  with  slaty 
rocks,  forms  its  sea  boundary ;  from  this  the  land  swells 
upward  gradually  to  a  considerable  height.  On  this  slope, 
now  mapped  out  with  a  formal  network  of  enclosures  and  very 
bare  of  trees,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  beach  and  in  the 
centre  of  some  fine  pasture  lands,  stand  the  remains  of  the 
preceptory  and  parish  church  of  Crook.  The  Templars  seem 
to  have  formed  an  early  settlement  hen?,  as  Crook  is  mentioned 
in  the  most  ancient  lists  of  their  establishments  in  Ireland." 
According  to  Hoveden,  CJi ro nica,  t.  ii.,  p.  29  (Rolls  Series),  the 
king  arrived  at  Crook  "  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  with 
400  great  ships  laden  with  warriors,  horses,  arms,  and  food." 
When  the  king  jumped  on  shore  a  white  hare  leaped  out  of  the 
bushes,  and,  being  caught,  was  offered  to  the  king  as  a  token 
of  victory. 

1  See  the  note  on  Kinsellagh  or  Hy-Kinsellagh  on  p.  72. 


132  IRELAND. 


translation  of  Hoveden  was  published  in  Bohn's  Library, 
the  copious  and  convenient  source  of  many  a  crib  dear 
to  schoolboys  and  even  to  undergraduates.  In  that 
Chronicle  Hoveden,  a  contemporaneous  writer,  tells  us 
accurately  enough  that  Henry  II.  landed  at  Crook  and 
marched  thence  to  Waterford.  This  was  too  tempting 
a  chance  for  an  editor  who  knew  nothing  of  Ireland. 
He  concluded  a  priori  that  there  could  not  possibly  be 
such  a  place  as  Crook.  He  had  heard,  however,  of 
such  a  place  as  Cork,  and  knew  that  it  was  somewhere 
in  the  south  of  Ireland.  He  therefore  gravely  suggests 
that  Hoveden  mistook  Crook  for  Cork,  and  concludes 
that  the  king  and  his  army  landed  at  Cork  and  marched 
thence  to  Waterford  in  the  course  of  a  morning  pro- 
menade,— a  journey  which  they  could  not  possibly 
achieve,  even  now,  in  the  course  of  a  day,  with  all  the 
resources  of  railway  communication  at  their  command.1 
King  Henry  landed  at  Crook  on  the  eve  of  St.  Luke's 
Day,  October  i8th,  1171,  with  four  hundred  ships,  con- 
taining five  hundred  men-at-arms,  a  large  body  of  horse- 
men and  archers,  and  vast  stores  of  arms  and  provisions. 
Indeed,  a  glance  through  the  sheriff's  returns — and  they 
are  imperfect — will  show  you  how  vast  must  have  been 
the  stores  brought  with  the  king  on  this  occasion.  He 
stayed  at  Waterford  fifteen  days,  till  the  feast  of  All 
Saints'  Day  had  been  celebrated.  A  record  of  his  stay 
in  Waterford  can  still  be  traced  in  the  Pipe  Roll 
accounts.  I  have  already  referred  to  it,  but  it  will  bear 
repetition,  as  it  makes  the  far-off  life  of  the  twelfth 
century  so  very  real  and  vivid  for  us.  We  there  find 
the  following  account  brought  forward  by  the  sheriffs  of 
Dorset  and  Somerset.  At  the  risk  of  wearying  you 
with  these  details,  and  with  a  desire  to  stir  you  up  to 

1  Cf.  p.  72  and  note,  and  p.  106  and  note. 


HENRY  II.   AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    133 


consult  these  original  documents  for  yourselves,  I  will 
quote  this  return  in  full.  It  vividly  illustrates  the 
principles  1  have  been  laying  down.  "  Alured  de  Lin- 
coln, Sheriff  of  Dorset,  renders  his  account :  for  400 
seams l  of  wheat  sent  into  Ireland,  4O/.  ;  300  seams  of 
oats,  I5/.  ;  100  seams  of  beans,  loos. ;  60  axes  by  the 
King's  writ ;  pay  for  seamen  of  six  ships  at  Bristol 
which  carried  supplies  from  many  counties  into  Ireland, 
1 67.  135.  C)d. ;  canvas  granaries  and  other  ship's  apparel, 
7/.  i os.  iod. ;  4  horses  sent  into  Ireland,  8/.  ;  ropes 
and  cables  to  raise  the  houses  of  Reginald  de  Winton, 
66s.  Sci.,  all  by  the  King's  writ ;  payments  to  Philip 
Palmer  of  Bristol  for  wine,  I4/.  los. ;  "  after  which  comes 
the  item  which  refers  to  Waterford  and  King  Henry's 
stay  there : — "  To  Bernard  le  Coliere  for  wine  bought 
at  Waterford,  2//.  and  2Od."  Then  follow  a  number 
of  entries  which  show  that  the  Ireland  of  1171  was 
very  like  the  Ireland  of  1889.  Englishmen  may  abuse 
us  on  some  points,  but  they  have  ever  admired  our 
horses  ;  and  so  we  read  :  "  To  Pagan  de  Ria  for  the 

1  "  The  horse  load,  seam  or  sum  of  100  pounds,  by  which  so 
many  saleable  articles  were  measured  or  weighed,  was  a  rude 
contrivance  suited  to  miserable  roads,  over  which  no  wheels 
could  make  their  way,  and  has  been  always  adopted  in  moun- 
tainous districts.  Within  fifty  years,  in  the  recollection  of  the 
editor,  great  part  of  the  coal  that  came  out  of  the  Forest  of 
Dean  to  the  town  of  Ross  was  brought  in  this  way  down  the 
sides  of  that  elevated  land,  on  mules  and  asses  or  small 
horses." — Webb's  Illustrations  of  Swinfield's  Household,  Roll, 
in  Camden  Society's  Series,  1855,  p.  cxvi.,  note.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  Dublin  are  well  accustomed  to  the  sight  of  the  same 
primitive  mode  of  communication.  The  natives  of  the  Dublin 
Mountains  still  bring  turf  and  other  produce  of  their  farms  for 
sale  in  the  city,  laden  on  horses  and  asses  in  creels  or  wicker 
baskets,  like  those  in  use  in  the  twelfth  century.  The  same 
custom  prevails  in  the  mountains  of  Sligo  and  generally 
throughout  the  west  ;  so  near  are  we  still  in  Ireland  to  the 
Middle  Ages. 


134  IRELAND. 

passage  of  100  horses  from  Ireland  into  England,  505.  ; 
to  Thomas  Fitz-Chnictwine,  Robert  de  Welles,  and 
Lambert  Teste,  each  405.  for  80  horses,  and  to  Waleran 
de  Scaldebec  255.  for  50  horses." l  I  presume  from 
these  notices  that  they  referred  merely  to  the  cost  of 
transporting  the  horses  from  Ireland  to  England.  We 
are  not  told  what  the  king  paid  for  them  in  Ireland. 
I  imagine  he  received  them  as  presents  from  the  various 
chiefs  who  made  their  submission  to  him. 

For  you  will  observe  this,  King  Henry  II.  did  receive, 
either  personally  or  by  deputy,  the  submission  of  all  the 
Irish  princes, — even  that  of  Roderic  O'Conor,  King  of 
Connaught, — with  only  one  exception.  That  exception, 
the  one  Irish  prince  who  stood  out  and  refused  submis- 
sion and  homage  to  the  Norman,  was  theO'Neill  of  Ulster. 
More  remarkable  still  is  the  fact  that  King  Henry 
attained  his  purpose,  and  became  feudal  lord  and  king  of 
Ireland,  without  firing  a  single  shot  in  anger,  or  spilling, 
so  far  as  we  know,  a  single  drop  of  Irish  or  Norman  blood. 
All  the  fighting  had  been  done  already  for  him  by  the 
Fitz-Geralds  and  by  Strongbow.  The  Irish  princes  saw 
clearly  that  if  the  small,  ill-appointed,  and  ill-equipped 
bands  of  private  adventurers  could  defeat  their  armies 
though  allied  with  the  Danes,  they  had  no  chance  what- 
soever against  an  army  numbering  ten  thousand  men 
at  least,  equipped  with  all  the  resources  of  England  and 
France,  and  supported  by  the  largest  fleet  the  Irish  Sea 
had  ever  seen.  They  simply  yielded  to  the  inevitable, 
and  flocked  to  pay  homage  to  the  Norman  Conqueror. 

King  Henry  remained  for  a  fortnight  in  Waterford, 
and  then  marched  to  Dublin,  where  he  arrived  about 
the  feast  of  St.  Martin,  November  I  ith.  There  a  palace 

1  See  Su'L-ftmnn's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  4,  No.  28.  Cf.  Pipe 
Accounts,  18  Henry  II.,  Roll  6. 


HENRY  II.   AND  ANGLO  NORMAN  CONQUEST.    135 


had  been  erected  for  him  after  the  manner  of  the 
country.  The  chiefs  and  nobles  were  determined  to 
give  King  Henry  a  hearty  reception  ;  probably  they 
were  glad  to  get  a  king  celebrated  for  legal  knowledge 
and  vigorous  rule  in  exchange  for  the  plundering  and 
fighting  adventurers  who  for  two  years  and  more  had 
been  ravaging  the  whole  country.  The  kings  and 
nobles  of  the  land,  we  are  therefore  told,  built  a  royal 
palace  of  beautiful  earth  roofed  with  wattles,  nigh  the 
church  of  St.  Andrew,  outside  the  walls  of  Dublin.1 
We  can  determine  the  very  spot  where  Henry  II.  spent 
the  Christmas  of  ii/r.  St.  Andrew's  Church  now 
occupies  the  top  of  the  hill  where  the  Danes  of  those 
times  held  their  thingmote.2  But  it  was  erected  there 
only  two  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  hill  was  cut 
down  by  the  barbarians  of  those  times,  who  had  no  eye 
for  either  antiquities  or  for  scenery,  and  the  soil  carted 
away  to  raise  Nassau  Street  to  its  present  height  above 

1  Such  a  palace  of  earth  and  wattles  may  seem  to  us  very 
unworthy  the  dignity  of  a  king  like  Henry  II.     But  then  we 
are  very  apt  to  imagine  that  the  Norman  kings  of  England 
enjoyed  a  much   higher  degree   of  civilisation  and  domestic 
comfort  than  actually  was  the  case.      Mr.  G.  T.  Clark,  in  his 
Mcdiccval  Military  Architecture,    t.  i.,    cap.    iii.-viii.,    has 
shown  that  numbers  of  the  castles,  royal  and  noble,  of  that 
age  were  of  wood  and  timber.     The  wattled  roof  can  yet  be 
found  in  use  in  the  more   backward   parts    of  Ireland.     The 
Irish   have    ever  been   famous  for  their   wattle-work,    which 
will   bear   great  weights.      They  used  it   for   centring   their 
arches ;  evident  proofs  of  this  can  be  seen  in  many  an  Irish 
ruin.     They  still  use  wattle-work  for  bridges  in  bogs,  and  for 
the  carnage  of  turf.     Every  Irish  boy,  whether  of  Celtic  race 
or  not,  can  still  in  country  parts  make  a  crib  of  wattles  for 
catching  birds  in  frosty  weather. 

2  See  my  Ireland  and  the   Celtic  ChurcJi,  p.  280.     There 
was  a  lawsuit  between  the  Crown  and  the  rector  of  St.  Andrew's 
in  the  time  of  Charles   I.,   concerning  the  restoration  of  this 
church,  which  was  then  used  as  the  Castle  stable.    See  Gilbert's 
History  of  Dublin,  ii.,  258-262,  t.  iii.,  App.  II.     The  present 
Castle  stables  occupy  the  site  of  Henry's  temporary  palace. 


136  IRELAND. 


the  College  Park.  Then  St.  Andrew's  Church  was 
moved  from  its  ancient  site,  now  occupied  by  the  shop 
numbered  10,  Dame  Street.  It  was,  in  fact,  one 
of  a  cluster  of  small  churches  (St.  Martin's  and  St. 
Michael  le  Pole)  which  stood  amid  trees  and  gardens 
along  the  banks  of  the  Poddle.  In  that  palace  King 
Henry  II.  received  the  homage  of  most  of  the  princes 
of  Ireland,  the  kings  of  Meath,  of  Cork,  of  Limerick,  of 
Ossory,  of  O'Rourke  of  Breifny  ;  and  there  he  con- 
firmed them  in  their  lands  and  possessions,  entertaining 
them  at  the  same  time  with  a  magnificence  and  profusion 
of  which  they  had  hitherto  no  idea.1  We  are  specially 
told  that  he  taught  them  to  eat  cranes,  a  food  which 
before  this  they  had  loathed.  This  probably  was  not  the 
only  foreign  taste  they  acquired.  The  royal  hospitality 

1  The  Irish  kings  were  all  acknowledged  as  such  by 
Henry  II.,  substituting  however  Strongbow  in  the  kingdom 
of  Leinster  instead  of  or  in  succession  to  the  MacMurroughs, 
and  Hugh  de  Lacy  in  that  of  Meath  instead  of  the  Melaghlins, 
or  rather,  perhaps,  carving  the  palatinate  of  Meath  out  of  the 
kingdom  of  that  name,  and  leaving  the  remainder  of  it  to  the 
Melaghlins.  The  Anglo-Norman  suzerain  acknowledged  the 
Irish  princes  as  his  feudatories,  placing  them  in  the  same  posi- 
tion as  the  princes  of  Wales  and  the  king  of  Scotland.  A  glance 
at  Rymer's  Feeder  a  (London:  1816),  t.  i.,  pars,  i.,  pp.  31,  45, 
101,  116,  123,  to  take  but  a  few  instances,  will  amply  prove 
this.  Several  of  these  Irish  princes  were  acknowledged  as 
such  down  to  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Henry  II.  took  the  title 
of  Lord  of  Ireland,  which  continued  to  be  the  legal  title  of  the 
English  sovereigns  till  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  Upon  the 
feudal  distinction  between  the  titles  Dominus  and  Rex,  see 
Rotuli  Curia-.  Regis,  ed.  Sir  F.  Palgrave,  A.n.  1835,  Introd., 
pp.  Ixxxvi. — xcvii.  The  following  extract  from  p.  xcvii.  sums 
up  his  argument: — "What  was  intended  by  the  style  of 
Domimts  Anglic?  ?  This  title  appears  to  indicate  the  right 
to  the  superiority  over  the  soil  when  distinguished  from  the 
chieftainship  of  the  people.  The  king  might  be  admitted 
as  Dumin us  Anglic  before  he  was  acknowledged  as  Rc.\' 
Anglonim;  and  this  distinction  was  consistently  maintained. 
John  was  Lord-  of  Ireland,  but  he  did  not  claim  to  be  King  of 
the  Irish.  Edward  wrote  himself  Lord  of  Scotland  and 


HENRY  IL  AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    137 


was  doubtless  well  intended,  but  it  laid  the  foundation 
of  still  more  profuse  and  extravagant  tastes  in  the 
breasts  of  these  Irish  princes,  and  thus  prepared  the 
way  for  their  financial  ruin  and  collapse.1 

The  king  remained  in  Dublin  until  the  ist  of  March, 
1 172,  a  four  months'  residence,  during  which  he  devoted 
his  whole  attention  to  the  organisation  of  Ireland  in 
Anglo-Norman  fashion.  His  stay  in  Dublin  covered 
exactly  the  period  now  counted  the  Castle  season,  and 
it  was  doubtless  one  of  the  most  excited  and  crowded 
seasons  that  Dublin  has  ever  seen.  Every  class  in  Irish 
society  thronged  to  Dublin  for  that  first  royal  visit. 
The  princes  came  there,  and  when  an  Irish  prince  came 
he  was  attended  by  as  large  an  army  of  retainers  as 
he  possibly  could  raise,  partly  from  motives  of  ostenta- 

acknowledged  Balliol  to  be  King  of  the  Scots."  Cf.  Pro- 
fessor Ricliey's  remarks  on  this  subject  in  his  Short  History 
of  the  Irish  People,  2nd  edition,  ed.  R.  R.  Kane,  LL.D.,  p.  155. 
1  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  Conquest  of  Ireland,  i.,  32  (Bonn's 
edition,  p.  231): — "The  feast  of  Christmas  drawing"  near, 
very  many  of  the  princes  of  the  land  repaired  to  Dublin  to 
visit  the  king's  court,  and  were  much  astonished  at  the 
sumptuousness  of  his  entertainments  and  the  splendour  of  his 
household  ;  and  having  places  assigned  them  at  the  tables  in 
the  hall,  by  the  king's  command,  they  learned  to  eat  cranes 
which  were  served  up,  a  food  they  before  loathed."  Hoveden 
the  chronicler  describes  the  palace  he  occupied,  and  tells  us 
the  length  of  his  residence  in  Dublin,  which  was  from  St. 
Martin's  Day  (November  nth)  to  Ash  Wednesday.  See 
Chronica  Rogeri  de  Hoveden,  t.  ii.,  p.  32  (Rolls  Series). 
The  magnificent  hospitality  displayed  by  Henry  II.  can  best 
be  understood  by  a  study  of  the  preparations  made  for  the 
visits  of  Prince  John  in  1 184,  and,  when  king,  in  1210.  In  1184 
we  find  that  Prince  John  brought  a  bakehouse  and  kitchen 
with  him.  The  sheriff  of  Gloucester  was  allowed  ^"9  ^s.  to 
procure  requisites  for  them  (see  Sweetrnan's  Calendar  of 
Documents,  t.  i.,  p.  n).  Cf.  Swinfield's  Household  Roll,  t.  ii., 
p.  liii.,  and  Lacroix's  Manners  of 'the  Middle  Ages,  p.  154,  for 
a  description  of  the  kitchen  arrangements  of  the  period.  The 
crane  was  then  esteemed  a  French  delicacy  (Lacroix,  I.e., 
p.  130). 


138  IRELAND. 

tion,  but  much  more  from  those  of  prudence  and  wise 
discretion,  for  Heaven  alone  could  tell  what  battles  he 
might  have  to  fight  before  he  returned  home.  We  get 
glimpses  here  and  there  in  the  English  and  Irish 
annalists  and  historians  into  the  social  life  of  Dublin 
during  those  four  eventful  months.  Prices  were  affected 
by  the  sudden  influx  of  strangers  from  all  parts.  "In 
the  time  of  the  king's  stay  in  Dublin  all  kinds  of 
victuals  were  at  excessive  rates,"  is  Morice  Regan's 
concise  reflection  upon  the  high  prices  which  the 
momentary  demand  and  a  defective  supply  had  caused. 
The  winter  too  was  exceptionally  tempestuous,  following 
upon  an  autumn  which  had  been  exceptionally  wet. 
The  Dublin  winters  arc  and  always  have  been  specially 
mild.  I  have  often  known  persons  who  left  London 
in  December  and  January  covered  with  thick  fog, 
surprised,  when  they  arrived  on  the  shores  of  Dublin 
Ray,  to  find  us  revelling  in  a  sunshine  worthy  an  Italian 
sky.  I  am  writing  these  words  in  the  month  of 
January,  and  it  was  only  two  days  ago  that,  as  I  walked 
by  the  seaside,  I  saw  a  lady  sitting  on  the  rocks  reading 
a  book.  It  is  in  the  earlier  spring  months  that  Dublin 
experiences  real  winter  weather,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances. But  in  1172  the  usual  order  was  reversed. 
Tempests  so  raged  during  the  whole  four  months  of 
the  king's  stay — Christmas  night  itself  was  marked 
by  a  terrific  thunderstorm,  felt  over  the  whole  of 
Western  Europe — that  the  superstitious  saw  clear 
evidences  in  them  of  Heaven's  wrath  declared  against 
an  impious  sovereign  who  had  outraged  God  and  His 
anointed  servants.1  Plague  and  sickness,  too,  added 

1  Concerning  the  thunderstorm  of  Christmas  nit^ht,  see 
Radtilf.  dc  Diceto,  t.  i.,  p.  ^50  (Rolls  Series),  where  it  is 
described  as  "  ^enerale  subitum  et  horribile." 


HENRY  II.   AND  ANGI.O-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    139 


their    horrors, — and   no  wonder,   as    we    can    now  see 
without  resorting  to  any  supernatural  explanations. 

The  Irish  princes  who  thronged  to  Henry's  court  from 
every  quarter  brought  with  them  large  hosts  of  retainers. 
They  easily  encamped  after  the  Irish  fashion  in  huts 
of  turf  and  branches,  spreading  themselves  over  the 
meadows,  fields,  and  strand  which  extended  on  every 
side  of  the  Dublin  of  that  day.  I  have  often  mentioned 
that  Dublin  in  1172,  and  for  hundreds  of  years  after, 
was  a  very  small  place.  It  bore  about  the  same 
proportion  to  Dublin  of  to-day  that  the  city  proper 
in  London  bears  to  the  whole  of  that  gigantic  con- 
glomerate which  men  now  call  London.  Fields  and 
gardens  ran  close  up  to  the  Castle  in  Dame  Street,  the 
last  relic  of  which  is  now  the  garden  of  the  Viceroys.1 
Woods  intermingled  with  meadows  covered  St.  Stephen's 
Green  and  Ranelagh  and  Cullenswood,  the  last  name 
bearing  witness  to  the  ancient  fact.2  An  immense 
strand  or  common  called  the  Steyne  stretched  away 
towards  Ringsend  and  the  Bay.  The  wild  Celtic 
soldiery  squatted  clown  on  every  vacant  spot,  specially 
along  the  highlands  of  St.  Stephen's  Green,  then  called 
Colonia  or  Cualan,3  where  wood  and  water  were 
abundant.  But  we  may  be  sure  they  never  thought 

1  Helena  Mocton  in  1390  endowed  St.  Stephen's  Church  in 
Stephen  Street,  at  the  back  of  the  Castle,  with  three  acres  of 
meadow  land  round  the  chapel,  so  that  Grafton  Street  and 
'William  Street  were  then  meadow  land.  See  Carroll's 
Succession  of  St.  Bride '  s  Clergy,  p.  8. 

-  See  an  interesting'  paper  on  the  manor  of  St.  Sepulchre  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Historical  and  Archaeological 
Society  of  Ireland  for  1889,  by  J.  Mills,  Esq.,  of  the  Irish 
Record  Office.  It  is  fuJl  of  details  of  the  state,  social  and 
agricultural,  of  the  Dublin  suburbs  about  this  period. 

3  A  name  now  represented  by  the  prebend  of  Cullen  in 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  always  held  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  and  still  retained  in  Cullenswood  Avenue. 


I4o  IRELAND. 

of  drainage  or  sanitary  questions.  They  satisfied 
themselves  from  the  brook  which  then  ran  from 
Stephen's  Green  to  the  sea,  as  it  still  runs  in  the 
sewers  beneath  Grafton  Street.  They  used  the  Poddle, 
which  then  formed  a  large  portion  of  Dublin's  water- 
supply,  all  hideous  though  it  now  be  with  the  filth  of 
countless  sewers,  as  it  flows  into  the  waters  of  the 
Liffey.  The  Irish  peasant  soldiers  were  as  supremely 
contemptuous  of  sanitary  considerations  or  the  welfare 
of  their  neighbours  as  their  descendants  our  rural 
peasantry  are  to  this  day.  They  used  the  bright  brown 
mountain  streams  as  we  now  use,  when  bound  a- 
picnicing,  the  kindred  streams  of  the  Dublin  Mountains, 
but  they  cared  not  how  they  defiled  them  for  their 
friends  and  neighbours  farther  down  the  valley,  who 
depended  on  them  for  one  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 
It  is  no  wonder  then  that  disease  and  death  spread  far 
and  wide  among  the  Anglo-Norman  hosts  who  were 
encamped  round  Henry's  temporary  palace  on  the  banks 
of  this  very  Poddle  where  it  then  formed  the  harbour 
of  Dublin.  We  now  hear  daily  complaints  in  the  Press 
and  in  Parliament  concerning  the  unsanitary  state  of 
the  Royal  barracks,  and  the  typhoid  fever  which  seems 
to  have  made  that  spot  its  chosen  home.  Seven 
centuries  ago  exactly,  the  same  causes  produced  the 
same  results  on  the  English  invaders  ;  and  thus  we 
learn  from  an  English  historian  of  the  period  that 
"  the  eating  of  fresh  meats  l  and  the  drinking  of  water, 

1  Bacon  and  corned  pork  were  evidently  the  favourite  food 
with  the  Anglo-Norman  soldiers.  In  Sweetman's  Calendar 
of  Documents  relating  to  Ireland  1171  — 1251,  t.  i.,  pp.  1-7, 
we  have  details  of  the  provisions  carried  into  Ireland  from 
England.  The  only  animal  food  mentioned  consists  of  hogs 
numbering  about  three  thousand, — Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  for 
instance,  supplying  three  hundred  and  twenty  at  an  expense  of 


HENRY  II.    AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    141 


as  well  unaccustomed  as  unknown,  afflicted  with 
dysentery  many  of  the  king's  army,  who  were  suffering 
from  want  of  bread." l  A  change  of  diet  may  have  had 
something  to  say  to  the  matter,  the  riotous  living  and 
free  licence  allowed,  and  the  crowded  state  of  Dublin, 
something  more  ;  but  sure  am  I  that  the  defective  and 
impure  water-supply  had  most  of  all  to  say  to  the 
dysentery  and  fever  which  smote  terror  into  the  hearts 
of  king  and  people  haunted  with  the  dread  of  Divine 
wrath  as  embodied  for  them  in  the  threatened  Papal 
interdict. a 

It  is  amusing  to  notice  that  even  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
fails  to  recognise  the  source  whence  the  dysentery 

£26  i6s.  $d.,  or  \s.  %d.  each,  which  was  the  highest  price. 
York  sent  three  hundred  hogs  at  £20  15^.,  or  is.  *\d.  each,  which 
seems  the  lowest.  The  only  notice  of  oxen  which  I  remember 
is  found  in  the  Annals  of  Caradoc,  alias  Brut-y-Tywysogion 
(Rolls  Series),  A.D.  1170,  where  we  learn  that  Rhys,  prince  of 
South  Wales,  brought  Henry  II.  when  on  his  road  to  Ireland 
a  present  of  three  hundred  horses  and  four  thousand  oxen, 
a  portion  of  which  alone  he  seems  to  have  accepted.  I  sup- 
pose the  transport  accommodation  for  cattle  was  insufficient. 
The  price  of  pigs  was  in  1172  much  the  same  as  in  Bishop 
Svvinfield's  time,  A.D.  1290.  See  the  Roll  of  his  Household 
Expenses,  edited  by  Rev.  John  Webb  for  Cam  den  Society 
1855,  t.  ii.,  p.  xlviii.,  where  we  read  of  the  episcopal  banquets, 
"  Swine's  flesh  was  in  great  request,  from  the  brawny  boar 
and  bacon  hog  down  to  the  sucking  pig  and  its  trotters."  Cf. 
Paul  Lecroix,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
p.  118  (London  :  1874).  The  reader  curious  about  mediaeval 
banquets  and  cookery  should  consult  the  whole  passage 
from  Swinlield's  Roll,  t.  ii.,  pp.  xl-liii,  where  the  prices 
of  provisions  in  the  thirteenth  century  are  given. 

1  Radulfe  de  Diceto,  t.  i.,  p.  350  (Rolls  Series)  :  "  Recentium 
esus  carnium  et  haustus  aqmc,  tarn  insolitus  quani  incog- 
nitus,  plures  de  regis  exercitu  panis  inedia  laborantes  fluxu 
ventris  afflixit  in  Hibernia."  R.  de  Diceto  had  specially 
good  sources  of  information  ;  he  was  a  contemporary  of  these 
events,  and  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 

-'Sir  W.  Wilde  in  his  able  report  on  the  Tables  of  Irish 
Deaths,  Pestilences,  Cosmi  cal  Phenomena,  etc.,  in  the  Census  of 
Ireland  1851,  part  v.,  t.  i.,  p.  74,  shows  that  dysentery  was  the 


142  IRELAND. 

came,  and  can  only  ascribe  it  to  the  vindictive  temper 
of  the  Irish  saints,  which  follows  them  even  to  heaven, 
where  they  can  gratify  it  to  the  full  by  pouring  out 
plagues  upon  those  who  outrage  their  earthly  sanctu- 
aries. He  tells  a  story  in  his  Topography  of  Ireland 
(i.,  54)  which  proves  this.  The  city  of  Dublin  being 
crowded  \vith  troops,  King  Henry  encamped  a  detach- 
ment of  archers  at  Finglas,  a  town  and  district  be- 
longing to  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin.1  This  step  the 
king  took  probably  as  much  from  motives  of  prudence 
as  of  convenience,  as  Finglas  commanded  the  northern 
road,  and  was  therefore  a  convenient  outpost  to  give 
timely  notice  of  any  attack  upon  the  part  of  the 
northern  tribes.  This  circumstance,  thus  incidentally 
recorded  by  Cambrensis,  throws  an  interesting  side-light 
upon  the  careful  dispositions  made  by  the  king  for  the 
security  of  his  person  and  court  during  his  winter 
residence  in  Dublin.  Finglas  was  noted  for  its  ash  and 
yew  trees  planted  in  the  cemetery  by  abbots  of  fame 
and  renown  in  days  gone  by.  The  rude  English 
archers  cared  nothing,  however,  for  the  handiwork 
of  ancient  piety.  They  wanted  fuel  to  cook  their 
Christmas  dinners.  They  tore  down  the  trees,  lighted 
their  fires,  cooked  their  food,  eating  and  drinking 
doubtless  far  too  much,  and  then  were  seized  with 
the  prevalent  sickness,  which  was  duly  credited  to  the 


disease  which  played  such  havoc  in  the  army  of  Henry  II. 
He  notices  under  the  years  1649  and  1689  that  Cromwell's  army 
at  Wexford  and  Schomberg's  army  at  Dundalk  suffered  in 
the  same  manner. 

1  A  regular  manor  court  was  held  at  Finglas  by  the  Archi- 
episcopal  officials  from  A.L>.  1200.  See  Gilbert's  Municipal 
Documents  (Rolls  Series),  preface,  p.  xxix.  p.  371.  Cf.  Liber 
Niger  Alain'  in  Marsh's  Library;  cf.  King  John's  charter 
to 'the  Archbishops  of  Dublin  in  Cliartu.',  Pririlcgia  ct 
Immunitatcs ,  p.  8. 


HENRY  II.    AND   ANGLO-NORMAN   CONQUEST.    143 


wrath  of  the  holy  St.  Canice,  through  whose  fervent 
piety  the  place  had  become  celebrated.1 

King  Henry,  however,  was  in  no  wise  turned  aside 
from  his  purpose.  He  steadily  pursued  his  policy  of 
organisation  during  all  these  four  months,  devoting  his 
attention  to  every  department  of  Irish  social  life.  He 
strove,  for  instance,  to  model  the  kings  and  their 
principalities  after  the  feudal  fashion,  imparting  to  the 
princes  some  notions  of  personal  magnificence  and 
grandeur.  He  appeared  before  them,  therefore,  in 
scarlet  robes,  lined  with  green  silk  and  trimmed 
with  fur,  while  the  sword  with  which  he  was  girt  was 
brilliant  with  gold  and  silver.-  He  treated  them  to 
lavish  banquets,  where  rich  wines  and  rare  dishes, 
cheese  from  Gloucester,  and  unknown  eastern  fruits, 
like  almonds,  of  which  alone  he  brought  five  hundred- 
weight with  him  from  England,  astonished  and  tickled 
their  fancy.3  His  array  of  officials — chancellor,  cham- 


1  St.  Canice,  patron  of  Kilkenny,  had  been  onee  a  member 
of  a  monastery  at  Glasnevin.  See  Cainnech  (3)  in  the  Diet. 
Christ.  Biog.  It  was  a  very  serious  offence  in  the  eye  of  the 
canon  law  to  interfere  with  or  destroy  trees  in  a  churchyard. 
One  of  the  Constitutions  of  Peckham,  published  at  Reading 
in  October  1279,  treats  of  this  point,  DC  cresccntibus  in 
sacris  locis.  Cf.  Wilkins'  Cunc.,  ii.,  140;  Household  Roll  of 
BisJwp  Swinfield,  t.  ii.,  p.  Ixxiii,  note  (Camden  Society,  1855). 

-  See  Sweetman,  Cal.  of  Documents,  pp.  5,  6,  Nos.  29 
and  37. 

:!  Lacroix,  Manners  of  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  165-173,  gives 
a  good  idea  of  the  banquets  and  dishes  then  in  vogue.  On 
p.  170  two  bills  of  fare  will  be  found.  One  of  them  describes 
a  banquet  given  to  a  bishop  on  a  fast  day  about  1300.  It 
proves  that  the  resources  of  gastronomic  science  had  dis- 
covered many  ways  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  asceticism.  It 
runs  thus  :  "  First,  a  quarter  of  a  pint  of  Grenache  was  given 
to  each  guest  on  sitting  down,  then  hot  eschandes,  roast  apples 
with  white  sugar  plums,  roasted  figs,  sorrel,  watercress,  and 
rosemary.  Soups,  a  rich  soup  composed  of  six  trout,  six 
tenches,  white  herrings,  fresh  water  eels  salted  twenty-four 


144  IRELAND. 

berlains,  clerks  of  the  closet — and  their  stately  order 
must  have  impressed  them  with  a  sense  of  awe  and  a 
desire  for  imitation,1  while  he  sent  them  all  away 
delighted  with  the  charters  he  issued,  for  which  he 
had  made  ample  preparation  in  the  thousand  pounds 
of  wax  which  Richard,  Archdeacon  of  Poitiers,  had 
sent  to  the  king  as  the  contribution  of  the  diocese  of 
Winchester." 

King  Henry  organised  the  Church  too,  which  seems 
sadly  to  have  needed  that  process,  notwithstanding 
the  fitful  exertions  of  the  Pope  during  the  previous 
half-century,  aided  by  St.  Malachy,  St.  Laurence 
O'Toole,  and  the  Cistercians.  The  Irish  prelates, 
headed  by  the  primate  Gelasius,  flocked  to  the  royal 


hours,  and  three  whiting  soaked  twelve  hours  ;  almonds, 
ginger,  saffron,  cinnamon  powder,  and  sweetmeats.  Salt 
water  fish,  soles,  gurnets,  congers,  turbots,  and  salmon. 
Fresh  water  fish,  pike  with  roe,  carps  from  the  Marne, 
breams.  Side  dishes,  lampreys,  orange  apples,  porpoise  with 
sauce,  mackerel,  soles,  bream,  and  shad  with  verjuice,  rice 
and  fried  almonds  upon  them,  sugar,  and  apples.  Dessert, 
stewed  fruit  with  white  and  vermilion  sugar  plums  ;  figs, 
dates,  grapes,  and  filberts.  Hypocras,  wines  and  spices." 
Almonds  evidently  were  much  used  in  the  cookery  of  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries. 

1  Episcopal  households  had  an  enormous  train  of  officials ; 
how  much  larger  must  the    royal   following   have  been,  see 
Swinfield's  Roll,  t.  ii.,  pp.  xxix-lviii.     Cf.  also  Lacroix,  Man- 
ners and  Customs  of  t/ie  Middle  Ages,  passim. 

2  King  John  when  he   came  to  Ireland  in   1210  brought  for 
the    same    purpose    no   less    than    fifty-three    dozen   skins    of 
parchment,  which  he  obtained  at  Winchester.     I  have  made 
no  statement  about  dress  or  modes  of  living  in  this  section, 
which   may  seem   to  some  rather  fanciful,  without  authority 
either  from  Henry's  own  visit  or  the  visits  of  his  son  John. 
We  know  from  various  sources  that  Henry  II.  practised  the 
usual  Norman  habits  of  personal  neatness.     In  his  hasty  flight 
from  the  burning  town  of  Le  Mans  in  June  1189  he  brought 
with   him    changes  of   linen,   when   even  his   own    son   saved 
nothing.     See  Bishop  Stubbs'  preface  to  Roger  de  Hoveden's 
Chronicle,  t.  ii.,  p.  Ixiv  (Rolls  Series). 


HENRY  II.  AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.    145 


levees.  The  Norman  clergy  who  accompanied  the 
king  must  have  been  astonished  at  the  appearance 
presented  by  some  of  the  bishops.  The  king  had  in 
his  train  Ralph,  Abbot  of  Buildewas  in  Shropshire; 
Ralph,  Archdeacon  of  Llandaff;  and  Nicholas,  Dean  of 
St.  Julian's  Church  at  Le  Mans,  one  of  the  king's 
favourite  chaplains.1  Accustomed  as  these  men  were 
to  stately  monasteries,  dignified  prelates,  and  courtly 
living,  they  must  have  been  astonished  when  they  saw 
the  Primate  of  Armagh,  Gelasius,  coming  to  visit  the 
king  attended  by  a  white  cow,  whose  milk  was  the  only 
nourishment  he  partook.-  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  though 
half  a  Welshman,  and  knowing  well  the  failings  of  the 
Celtic  clergy  in  Wales,  cannot  conceal  his  contempt  for 
the  Irish  clergy  of  the  period.  He  preached  a  sermon 
before  them  at  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  some  fifteen 
years  later  than  the  king's  visit,  when  Archbishop  John 
Comyn  was  holding  a  synod  of  his  province  in  the  city 
of  Dublin.  There  he  told  them  some  very  plain  truths, 
which  he  has  embodied  in  his  Topography  of  Ireland, 
bk.  ii.,  chs.  xxvii.-xxxii.,  where  he  describes  the  prelates, 
clergy,  and  monks  of  Ireland  in  the  most  unfavourable 
terms.  The  bishops  were  negligent  of  their  pastoral 

1  Nicholas  was  one  of  the  king's  most  trusty  chaplains.  He 
was  dean  of  St.  Julian's  Church  at  Le  Mans,  King-  Henry's 
favourite  residence,  and  was  afterwards  bishop  of  it.  He  was 
the  king's  deputy  at  the  council  of  Cashel,  and  witnessed  his 
treaty  with  Roderic  O' Conor  of  Connaught,  made  at  Windsor 
in  1 175.  He  was  a  great  traveller  too,  as  we  find  him  marrying 
Richard  I.  to  Queen  Bcrengaria  in  Cyprus  in  May  1191.  See 
Roger  de  Hoveden  (Rolls  Series),  t.  ii.,  pp.  31,  85;  t.  iii.,  p.  no. 

-  See  Colgan's  Acta  SS.  ff?l>.,  p.  772,  for  the  life  of  Gelasius. 
He  died  March  2/th,  1174.  The  poor  Irish  Primate  must 
have  been  a  strange  sight  to  the  Norman  clergy,  accustomed 
to  episcopal  pomp  and  luxury  like  that  described  in  Swin- 
fi.e\d'sffouse/ioMJ?o//,  ed.  by  Rev.  J.  Webb  (Camden  Society, 
1855),  Abstracts  and  Illustrations,  pp.  xxviii-xl. 

10 


146  IRELAND. 


duties,  dumb  dogs  never  preaching  the  word  of  God ; 
the  clergy  were  coarse  and  sensual,  fasting  all  day  and 
drinking  all  night.  It  was  no  wonder,  in  his  opinion, 
that  the  Irish  people  had  not  even  the  form  of  religion 
and  honesty  when  their  teachers  were  so  utterly  worth- 
less. The  view  thus  taken  of  the  Irish  clergy  by  the 
Welsh  archdeacon  in  1184  was  doubtless  practically 
the  same  as  that  entertained  by  the  king's  chaplains 
some  twelve  years  earlier.  The  king  had  also  an  able 
assistant  in  his  ecclesiastical  operations  in  the  Papal 
legate  of  that  day,  Christian,  Bishop  of  Lismore.  The 
local  peculiarities  and  irregularities  of  the  Irish  bishops 
and  clergy  must  have  been  just  as  abhorrent  to  Chris- 
tian as  to  the  chaplains,  for  the  Lismore  prelate  was 
French  by  birth  and  training,  having  been  one  of  the 
original  Cistercians  sent  by  St.  Bernard  to  introduce 
that  order  into  Ireland  some  thirty  years  before.  Acting 
under  the  guidance  of  these  Norman  divines,  Henry  II. 
assembled  a  synod  at  Cashel,  under  the  presidency 
of  Christian,  where  Ralph  the  abbot,  Ralph  the 
archdeacon,  Nicholas  the  chaplain,  and  other  clergy 
appeared,  armed  with  the  king's  commission.  At  this 
synod  eight  canons  were  passed,  enforcing  the  payment 
of  tithes,  regulating  the  mode  of  catechising  and  of 
baptism,  establishing  the  Roman  table  of  affinity  in 
matrimonial  matters,  and  finally  decreeing  uniformity 
of  divine  worship  throughout  England  and  Ireland,  in 
these  words,  "That  divine  offices  shall  be  henceforth 
celebrated  in  every  part  of  Ireland  according  to  the 
forms  and  usages  of  the  Church  of  England."  1 

But  King  I  lenry  did  not  limit  his  attention  to  princes 
and  prelates  alone  during  those  four  months  of  quiet 

1  Sec  YVilkins'  Concilia,  t.  i.,  p.  471. 


.HENRY  II.    AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.     147 

and  seclusion  secured  to  him  by  the  tempestuous  west 
winds  which  cut  off  all  communication  with  England. 
He  devoted  himself  as  well  to  the  legal,  municipal,  and 
social  organisation  of  Ireland.  Henry  II.  is  celebrated 
as  the  founder  of  the  English  legal  system.  To  him 
and  his  able  assistants  are  due  gaols,  itinerant  justices, 
assize  courts,  and  all  the  main  outlines  of  the  system 
of  justice  as  at  present  established.  Henry  intro- 
duced precisely  the  same  system  into  Ireland.  He 
had  by  his  side  very  capable  advisers  in  Ralph  the 
archdeacon  and  Nicholas  the  chaplain.  Archdeacons 
were  indeed  in  those  times  far  more  of  lawyers  than  of 
clergymen,  while  as  for  Nicholas,  he  was  so  thoroughly 
learned  in  law  that  we  find  him  acting,  some  seven  years 
later,  as  an  itinerant  justice  throughout  the  midland 
counties  of  England.1  But  he  had  a  greater  still.  He  had 
the  greatest  and  earliest  of  English  lawyers  in  the 
person  of  Ranulf  de  Glanville,  whose  name  appears 
as  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  Charter  of  Dublin,  issued 
at  that  city  in  1171.  Henry,  aided  by  these  men,  esta- 
blished a  Chief  Justiciary  as  in  England,  an  Exchequer 
Court,  itinerant  and  forest  justices,  and  then  some 
twelve  years  later  sent  over,  in  1184,  the  same  great 
lawyer,  Ranulf  de  Glanville,  to  consolidate  the  system 
which  he  had  himself  introduced.2  The  king  did  not. 


1  See  Dug-dale's  Chronica  Series  Cancellariorum,  p.  3,  in 
his  Origines  Juridiciales. 

-  Ranulf  de  Glanville  accompanied  Prince  John.  See  Girald. 
Camb.,  Conquest  of  Ireland,  ii.,  31.  The  prefaces  of  Dr. 
Stubbs'  edition  of  Roger  de  Hoveden,  tt.  i.  and  ii.,  have 
much  about  this  great  lawyer  and  statesman,  whose  handi- 
work lies  at  the  basis  .of  the  Irish  as  well  as  of  the  English 
legal  system.  The  signature  of  Ranulf  de  Glanville  to  the 
Dublin  Charter  of  1171  can  be  seen  in  Charts,  Privilegia  ct 
Immunitatcs ,  published  by  the  Irish  Record  Office,  p.  i,  or 
in  Gilbert's  Municipal  Documents ',  p.  i  (Rolls  Series). 


148  IRELAND. 

limit  himself  to  the  organisation    of  legal    institutions 
alone ;  he  introduced  English  law,  and  by  the  end  of 
the  century  we  have  ample  evidence  that  the  whole  body 
of  English  jurisprudence  was  at  work  in  Ireland.      But 
Henry's  own  experience  showed  him  that  special  enact- 
ments were  required  by  Irish  needs.     He  was  himself 
cut  off  by  tempestuous  winds  from  communication  with 
England.     What  would  happen  to  the  Irish  colony  if 
a   chief  governor,  in  whose   person  centred   the  chief 
executive    and   judicial    work,    were    to    die    during   a 
similar    season  ?     He    passed,    therefore,    in    a    great 
council  an  act  called  the  statute  of  Henry  Fitz-Empress, 
authorising  the    Anglo-Norman  magnates   resident   in 
and  near  Dublin  to  elect  a  chief  governor  who  should 
hold   office   till  the  king's   pleasure   was   known.1     He 
issued    charters    too    in    abundance.       He    granted    to 
Dublin  its  earliest  charter,  which  is  still  in  force  and 
preservation.     He  issued  similar  documents  in  favour 
of  various  noblemen,  churches,  and  monasteries,  con- 
firming the  grants  made  by  Strongbow  during  his  brief 
period  of  independence.     Finally,   he  did  not  despise 
measures  for  the  social  and   material   improvement  of 
the  people,  and  thus  we  find  in  the  accounts    of  the 
invasion  an  item  of  ^78  i8s.  6d.,  charged  for  garments 
bestowed  upon  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  cottagers 
who  were  in  the  king's  service  in  Ireland.     Henry  II. 
had  a  great  mind,  which    could  embrace  every   topic, 
even   such   an  insignificant  one,  as  men  then  counted, 
as  the  temporal  welfare  of  the  poorest  classes. 

Such  was  the  work  of  Henry's  four  months  of  seclu- 

'  This  statute  of  Henry  II.  is  recognised  in  an  Irish  Act 
passed  in  the  second  of  Richard  III.,  and  printed  in  Lynch 's 
Prescriptive  Baronies  of  Ireland,  p.  6}.  Cf.  Year  Book 
20  Henry  VI.,  fol.  8. 


HENRY  II.   AND  ANGLO-NORMAN  CONQUEST.     149 

sion.  I  have  had  to  piece  my  information  together,  and 
perhaps  to  some  my  sketch  may  seem  fanciful,  but  yet 
I  feel  certain  that  the  more  the  documents  are  studied, 
and  facts,  names,  and  statements  compared  together, 
so  much  the  more  will  my  views  be  confirmed.  The 
king's  stay  in  Ireland  now  drew  to  a  close.  As  the 
days  became  longer  he  became  impatient  for  news 
from  England.  He  left  Dublin,  therefore,  about  Ash- 
Wednesday  of  1 1 72,  and  made  his  way  to  Wexford.  The 
winds  were,  however,  again  contrary  to  his  purpose.1 
March  and  April  have  ever  been  famous  on  the  east 
coast  of  Ireland  for  their  easterly  winds,  and  the  king 
was  kept  waiting  for  weeks,  till  at  last,  on  Easter  Mon- 
day morning,  a  sudden  change  took  place.  The  west 
winds  blew  a  favouring  breeze,  the  king  started  in  his 
swift-sailing  galley  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  arriv- 
ing at  St.  David's  about  twelve,  just  in  time  to  hear 
mass  said  in  the  cathedral,  after  which  with  his  usual 
impetuosity  he  pushed  on  to  I  laverfordwest  Castle. 

Thus  ended  the  great  Plantagenet's  work  in  Ireland. 
He  intended  as  soon  as  he  had  restored  order  to  his 
affairs  and  settled  with  the  Papal  legates  about  the 
death  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket,  to  return  and  finish 
the  work  of  Irish  organisation.  But  Providence 
ordered  it  otherwise.  Henry  II.  never  saw  Ireland 
again,  and  the  strong  hand  which  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  English  prosperity  never  completed  the  work 
it  had  undertaken  for  the  sister  island. 

1  The  east  winds  brought  him,  however,  his  first  news  of 
England  and  English  affairs,  though  they  kept  him  in  Ireland. 
See  Girald.  Camb.,  Conquest  of  Ireland,  bk.  i.,  ch.  xxxvi. 


LECTURE    VII. 
NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND. 

HENRY  II.  left  the  shores  of  Ireland  in  April, 
1172,  after  a  six  months'  visit,  proposing  to 
return  soon  and  finish  his  work.  He  reigned  for 
seventeen  years  longer,  but  domestic  treason,  family 
discords  and  strife,  the  opposition  of  wife  and  children, 
effectually  prevented  the  completion  of  his  intentions. 
Henceforward  he  had  quite  enough  to  do  to  maintain 
his  rights  and  power  in  England  and  France,  while 
Ireland  was  left  to  its  own  devices.  Upon  his  departure 
from  Ireland  he  made  various  important  arrangements. 
He  established  the  various  kings  of  Ireland  as  feudal 
princes,  holding  their  dominions  by  feudal  tenures  in 
subjection  to  himself  as  the  supreme  suzerain,  just  as  he 
himself  held  his  Continental  dominions  in  subjection  to 
the  King  of  France.  He  confirmed  Strongbow  in  his 
principality  of  Leinster. l  He  found  the  Kingdom  of 
Meath,  the  central  principality  of  Ireland,  a  derelict 
possession.  '1'hc  Melaghlins  had  ruled  it.  O'Rourke 
of  Breifny  had  deprived  them  of  it,  and  usurped  its 


1  The  extent  of  Strong-bow's  principality  is  accurately  given 
in  Grace's  A ima Is  (Irish  Archaeological  Series,  A. I).  1842),  ed. 
by  Rev.  R.  Butler,  p.  21,  as  extending  over  \Yexford,  Ossory, 
Carlosv,  and  Kiklare.  That  at  least  was  the  extent  of  territory 
possessed  by  William  Marshall,  Karl  of  Pembroke  and  Lord  of 
l.einster,  in  virtue  of  his  marriage  with  Strong-bow's  daughter 
by  Hva. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.  151 


authority.  Henry  determined  to  use  it  for  the  purpose 
of  establishing  the  feudal  system  in  its  perfection.  He 
conferred  the  greater  portion  of  ancient  Meath  upon 
Hugh  de  Lacy,  and  made  it  a  palatinate  similar  to 
those  which  already  existed  in  England,  and  have  not 
even  yet  completely  disappeared.1  To  this  arrangement 
I  shall  return  after  a  little,  but  now  pass  on  to  notice 
his  other  regulations.  The  fortresses  which  Strongbow 
had  conceded  to  him  Henry  determined  to  retain  in  his 
own  hands.  He  constituted  Dublin  the  capital,  and 
entrusted  it  to  Hugh  de  Lacy,  Count  Palatine  of  Meath, 
assisted  and  watched  by  Fitz-Stephen  and  Maurice  Fitz- 
Gerald,  together  with  a  garrison  of  five  or  six  hundred 
men.  Waterford  was  committed  to  Humphrey  de 
Bohun,  Robert  Fitz-Bernard,  and  Hugh  de  Gundeville, 
with  the  same  garrison,  showing  plainly  that  Waterford 
was  then  just  as  important  a  town  as  Dublin ;  while 
Wexford,  the  nearest  port  to  England,  was  handed  over 
to  William  Fitz-Aldelm,  Philip  de  Hastings,  and  Philip 
de  Braose,  with  two  hundred  men.2  Around  the  leaders 

1  Henry  II.  gave  a  charter  to  Hugh  de  Lacy,  which  is  printed 
in  the  Rotulorum  Cancellarice  Hibernice  Calendar ium, 
published  A.D.  1828,  vol.  i.,  pars,  i,  2  Henry  V.,  No.  137. 
The  document  recites  that  the  king  has  inspected  a  charter 
of  Henry  II.  to  H.  de  Lacy,  by  which  he  gave  him  the  land  of 
Meath  for  the  service  of  fifty  knights,  to  be  held  of  the  king  as 
Murcard  Humelachlin  held  it,  and  by  way  of  increase  he  gave 
him  all  the  fees  which  he  might  gain  about  Dublin  while  he 
was  the  king's  bailiff;  and  that  he  and  his  heirs  might  have 
the  said  land  and  all  its  liberties  and  franchises  which  the 
king  had  there  or  might  have.  Granted  at  Wexford  in  pre- 
sence of  Count  Richard,  Will,  de  Braose,  Reg.  de  Courtenay, 
Hugh  de  Crcssy,  and  several  others.  Cf.  Gilbert's  Viceroys  of 
Ireland,  p.  487  ;  Lynch's  Legal  Institutions,  etc.,  p.  140. 

-  My  authority  for  these  statements  is  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
Conquest  of  Ireland,  i.,  37  (p.  237,  Holm's  ed.).  My  numbers 
do  not  apparently  agree  with  his.  He,  as  I  conceive,  simply 
mentions  the  number  of  knights  or  men-at-arms,  taking  no 
notice  of  the  foot  soldiers,  archers,  etc.,  by  whom  they  were 


152  IRELAND. 

whose  names  are  thus  set  forth,  the  fortunes  of  the 
Anglo-Norman  colony  long  hung  in  the  balance.  We 
may  now  disregard  Henry  II.  personally,  and  concen- 
trate our  attention  upon  the  representatives  to  whom  he 
entrusted  the  government  of  Ireland.  Four  of  them 
stand  out  prominent  in  secular  and  religious  matters 
alike.  Their  names  are  Count  Richard,  otherwise  called 
Strongbow,  Hugh  de  Lacy,  Earl  of  Meath,  Hugh  de 
Courcy,  Earl  of  Ulster,  and  William  Fitz-Aldelm,  Earl 
of  Connaught,  and  founder  of  the  family  of  Clanricarde. 
Henry  II.  before  he  quitted  Ireland  instituted  an  office 
which  still  continues  in  our  midst,  and  that  is  the  office 
of  Lord  Lieutenant,  constituting  Hugh  de  Lacy  his 
representative  under  the  title  of  Justiciarius  Hiberniae,1 

accompanied,  which  I  reckon  at  fifteen  for  each  man-at-arms. 
Giraldus  states  that  King  Henry  left  forty  men-at-arms  to  hold 
Dublin.  But  if  the  entire  garrison  contained  merely  forty  men, 
it  would  simply  have  invited  destruction.  Henry  II.  brought 
with  him  four  hundred  men-at-arms  in  four  hundred  ships. 
Reckoning  fifteen  common  soldiers  to  each  man-at-arms,  this 
would  make  the  total  of  the  army  of  invasion  six  thousand  men, 
exclusive  of  those  already  in  Ireland.  The  vast  majority  of 
the  four  hundred  ships  were  doubtless  mere  coasting  vessels 
or  fishing  smacks.  Cf.  Morice  Regan's  poem,  11.  2580 — 2595. 

1  Howard,  in  his  Histor_  y  of  the  Irish  Exchequer,  p.  2,  seems 
to  think  that  the  English  laws  and  English  judicial  system 
were  not  introduced  into  Ireland  till  early  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  somewhat  late  in  John's  reign.  Hoveden's  An- 
nals,  t.  ii.,  p.  34  (Rolls  Series),  state  the  contrary,  specially 
when  we  consider  the  meaning  of  the  term  Justiciarius 
HibernicL-  as  1  have  expounded  it  in  my  next  note.  Hove- 
den's words  are,  telling  of  King  Henry's  arrangements, 
"  Sed  antequam  ab  Hybernia  recederet,  dedit  et  carta  sua 
confirmavit  Hugoni  de  Laci,  totam  terram  de  Mida  cum 
omnibus  pertinentiis  suis,  tencndam  in  feodo  et  ha:reditate, 
de  ipso  et  hrcrcdibus  suis,  per  servitium  centum  militum  ;  et 
tradidit  ei  in  custodia  civitatem  Divelinia;  et  constituit  eum 
Justitiarium  Hybernia\"  Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Documents 
relating  to  Ireland,  t.  i.,  No.  87,  shows  that  the  office  of  Justi- 
ciary was  an  established  one  in  Ireland  in  the  early  months  of 
John's  reign,  August,  1 199  ;  while  a  much  earlier  document,  the 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.  153 

a  title  which  survives  in  that  of  Lord  Justice  of  Ireland, 
a  deputy  or  deputies  chosen,  as  the  case  may  be,  to 
act  instead  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant.  Hugh  de  Lacy 
was  the  first  to  represent  the  Crown  under  the  style 
of  Justiciary  of  Ireland.  Now  this  title  plainly  proves 
my  contention  that  Henry  II.  intended  to  introduce 
the  Norman  feudal  system  as  already  known  in 


charterof  St.  Laurence  O'Toole  to  Christ  Church  in  A.n.  1178,  is 
witnessed  by  Hugh  de  Lacy,  Constable  of  Dublin  (see  Char  tee, 
Privilegia  ct  Imiuunitates,  p.  2;  Gilbert's  Viceroys,  notes  to 
ch.  ii.  ;  Lynch's  Legal  Institutions,  etc.,  of  Ireland,  ch.  iv.). 
Giraldus  Camb.,  opp.,  t.  i.,  p.  65  (Rolls  Series),  treating-  of  11 86, 
calls  Bertrand  de  Verdun  the  Seneschal  of  Ireland  ;  which  fact 
shows  that  the  Norman  feudal  system  was  then  established 
in  Dublin.  Dudley  Loftus,  in  his  MS.  Annals  of  Ireland, 
in  Primate  Marsh's  Library,  A.D.  1172,  says  that  De  Lacy 
represented  Henry  II.  under  the  title  of  Lord  Justice,  but  at 
first  he  was  called  Rector  Dublinensis.  Loftus,  great  grandson 
of  Primate  Adam  Loftus,  was  an  eminent  scholar  and  anti- 
quarian resident  in  Dublin  all  through  the  seventeenth  century. 
His  MSS.,  or  at  least  such  of  them  as  remain  in  Marsh's 
Library,  are  well  worth  consulting  for  the  history  of  Ireland, 
specially  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Howard,  I.e.,  t.  i., 
pref. ,  p.  3,  mentions  that  his  mother,  who  was  a  descendant 
of  Dudley  Loftus,  had  four  manuscript  volumes  of  his  filled 
with  information  about  the  wars  and  confiscations  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  They  were  regarded  in  his  family  circle 
as  waste  paper,  and  treated  accordingly.  Howard  rescued 
one  volume  from  destruction,  using  it  in  his  History.  Loftus 
was  a  great  oriental  scholar,  a  pupil  of  Ussher,  and  a  friend 
of  all  the  distinguished  orientalists  of  his  time.  He  \vas  a 
lawyer,  not  a  clergyman.  In  politics  he  was  a  regular  vicar  of 
Bray.  Under  Charles  I.  he  was  a  royalist  ;  under  Cromwell  a 
republican,  and  his  minutes  of  the  courts-martial  held  in 
Dublin  under  the  Commonwealth  are  still  in  Marsh's  Library. 
Under  Charles  II.  a  royalist  again,  he  was  Churchwarden  of 
St.  Werburgh's  in  1661,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University, 
Judge  of  the  Prerogative  Court,  and  Vicar-General.  Under 
fames  II.  he  was  too  old  to  make;  any  more  changes,  so  he 
remained  quiet  in  his  house  on  the  Blind  Quay  in  Dublin  (now 
17,  Upper  Exchange  Street)  all  the  troublous  times  of  1690, 
editing  Syriac  liturgies.  A  chequered  and  a  changeful  life 
forsooth  ! 


154  IRELAND. 

England.  The  Justiciary  of  England  was  the  English 
representative  of  the  Norman  kings  when  absent  in 
their  Continental  dominions.  The  office  was  probably 
invented  by  William  the  Conqueror.  The  main  object 
of  his  policy  was  to  prevent  the  supreme  administration 
falling  into  the  hands  of  a  hereditary  noble,  who  would 
transfer  his  functions  to  his  son,  till  at  last,  like  the 
Mayors  of  the  Palace  in  France,  they  might  oust  the 
legitimate  occupants  of  the  throne.  Justiciaries  exactly 
answered  this  purpose.  They  were  temporary  officials, 
their  jurisdiction  was  limited,  and  when  its  occasion 
passed  away  its  jurisdiction  also  terminated.  Dr.  Stubbs, 
in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  his  Constitutional  History,  has 
well  explained  the  origin  of  this  office,  and  shown  the 
relation  in  which  it  stands  to  the  great  legal  official  now 
called  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England. 

The  Norman  kings  were  very  jealous  of  the  hereditary 
nobility.  Hence  they  generally  entrusted  this  office  of 
Justiciary  to  an  ecclesiastic,  and  therefore  it  is  that 
here  in  Ireland  the  Archbishops  of  Dublin  were  almost 
always  the  recipients  of  this  high  office  down  to  the 
time  of  disestablishment,  when  it  was  last  held  by  Arch- 
bishop Trench.  A  great  ecclesiastic,  by  his  office,  was 
cut  off  from  ambitious  projects,  while  his  office  itself 
was  merely  a  life  peerage,  and  involved  no  danger  or 
plots  from  hereditary  successors.1  The  office  of  Justi- 


1  The  office  of  Sumtnus  or  Capitalis  Justiciarius  has  been 
the  subject  of  much  learned  investigation  among  legal  and 
constitutional  writers.  Bishop  Stubbs  in  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  his  History  has  thrown  much  light  upon  it.  He  has  illus- 
trated it  from  the  field  of  Neapolitan,  Sicilian,  Aragonese, 
Norman,  and  Anglo-Norman  history,  but  has  overlooked  the 
light  which  Anglo-Norman  organization  in  Ireland  can  throw 
upon  it.  Selden,  Office  of  Chancellor,^.  ^\  Dugdale's  Ort- 
^'hics  Jnt'idictales,  in  his  Clironica  Series  Cancellarioriini ; 
Madox,  Jfiat.  of  the  Kxchcquer,  ch.  ii. ;  Lord  Campbell's  Lives 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.  155 


ciary  of  Ireland  was  one  offering  special  facilities  for 
plots,  stratagems,  and  wiles;  and  therefore  it  is  that 
from  the  beginning,  even  during  Henry  II.'s  reign,  the 
holders  were  so  frequently  changed.  It  was  in  this 
respect  like  a  very  celebrated  office  under  the  Roman 
Empire.  The  government  of  Egypt  occupied  a  unique 
position  in  the  Imperial  organization.  The  great  cities 
of  the  Empire,  Rome  and  Constantinople,  depended 
upon  Egypt  for  supplies  of  corn,  and  if  these  supplies 
were  cut  off,  famine,  rebellion,  and  revolution  at  once 
stared  the  emperor  in  the  face.  The  governor  of 
Egypt  had  the  emperor  at  his  mercy  if  he  chose  to 
rebel;  while  again,  the  resources  of  the  country  were  so 
large,  that  he  could  find  ample  means  to  sustain  himself 
in  this  action.  A  special  arrangement  was  therefore  de- 
vised for  Egyptian  administration.  The  other  provinces 
of  the  Empire  were  assigned  their  rulers  according  to  a 
certain  fixed  order.  The  consuls  for  each  year  had  a 
recognized  claim  to  succeed  to  vacant  pro-consular 
governments  as  they  fell  vacant.  But  Egypt  was  an 

of  the  Chief  Justices,  t.  i.,  c.  i.  ;  Foss's  Judges  of  England, 
t.  i.,  afford  much  light  on  this  point.  The  office  of  Summus 
Justiciarius  Anglice  was  the  historical  source  whence  was 
derived  the  modern  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  or 
Queen's  Bench.  Originally  the  Justiciaries  of  England  were 
executive  and  judicial  officers.  The  judicial  have  now  eclipsed 
the  executive  functions,  but  even  still,  as  Selden  points 
out  (Office  of  Chancellor,  p.  4;  cf.  Madox,  p.  21),  the  Chief 
Justice  of  England  may  be  called  Viceroy,  as  he  is  also  Chief 
Coroner  of  England.  The  last  of  the  Norman  Justiciaries  was 
either  Philip  Hasset,  who  died  in  1271,  or  the  great  jurist 
Henry  de  Bracton.  At  any  rate,  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  the 
King's  Bench  in  our  modern  sense  was  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Bruce,  A.l>.  1268—1295.  See  Campbell's  /.c.,  t.  i.,  pp.  59-69  ; 
Dugdale's  On'g.  Jiii'iii.,  p.  20.  It  is  curious  that  no  writer  has 
referred  to  the  illustration  which  the  Norman  organization 
might  receive  from  the  treatise  of  the  Bollandists  in  their 
77icsaiiriis  Antiqiiiluiis,  t.  i.,  p.  |2i,  on  the  Palatine  Laws  of 
Majorca. 


156  IRELAND. 

exception  to  the  rule,  and  its  governors  were  always 
selected  by  the  emperors  from  among  their  most  trusty 
adherents,  quite  independent  of  any  rule;  and  lest 
they  should  learn  to  entertain  ambitious  projects  they 
were  closely  watched,  and  very  frequently  changed.1 
The  Justiciaries  of  Ireland  were  very  like  the  Augustal 
Prefects  of  Egypt.  They  were  distant  from  the  seat  of 
Norman  Government,  which  was  often  fixed  away  in  the 
south  of  France.  They  had  much  in  their  power,  and 
had  copious  resources  behind  them.  Henry  II.  sent 
therefore  his  most  trusty  adherents  to  the  post,  and 
then,  not  satisfied  with  this  precaution,  he  attached  to 
their  retinue  spies  who  would  watch  them  closely,  and 
at  once  report  any  symptoms  of  revolt.  Hugh  de  Lacy 
was  the  first  Justiciary  of  Ireland,  but  he  also  held 
another  position,  by  which  Henry  strove  to  bind  him  to 
his  cause.  De  Lacy  was  constituted  Count  Palatine  of 
Meath.  By  this  grant,  which  the  king  made  at  Wex- 
ford,  he  conferred  the  kingdom  of  Meath  upon  De  Lacy, 
and  thus  raised  up  a  power  to  be  a  counterpoise  to  that 
of  Strongbow,  who  held  Leinster.  This  policy  he  further 
developed  in  various  other  parts  of  the  country,  consti- 
tuting Ulster,  Kilkenny,  and  Waterford  Liberties  or 
Palatinates,  with  feudal  rulers  of  their  own. 

This  point  is  so  important,  and  has  such  an  intimate 
bearing  on  the  history  of  Ireland,  that  I  must  explain 
it  at  some  length.  You  are  all  aware  that  the  Duchy 

1  See  about  Egypt  and  the  Augustal  Prefects,  Marquardt's 
Romischc  Staatsi'ervaltung,  t.  i.,  p.  284,  in  INIarquardt  and 
Mommsen's  Rdiin'sclic  Altcrtliituicr  (Leipzig:  1873);  Monim- 
sen's  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire,  t.  ii.,  eh.  xii.  (J)ickson's 
translation:  London,  1886).  Ci.  also  his  Staatsrcclii,  ii.,  963, 
with  Tacit.,  Hist.,  i.,  1 1  ;  and  treatise  by  Le  J5as  and  Wadding- 
ton,  entitled  Fastcs  des  Provinces  Asiatiijiics  in  their  I'oy. 
Achcol.  t.  iii.  p.  655,  for  the  rules  of  promotion  in  the  Roman 
Civil  Service. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.          157 


of  Lancaster  and  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall  form  even 
now  peculiar  jurisdictions,  with  special  officials  of  their 
own.  The  Duchy  of  Lancaster  is  now  indeed  an 
appanage  of  the  Crown.  The  Duchy  of  Cornwall 
belongs  to  the  heir-apparent.  Still  there  they  are, 
peculiar  and  exempt  jurisdictions  in  the  heart  of  nine- 
teenth century  England,  curious  remnants  and  relics 
of  a  feudal  system  which  has  almost  utterly  passed 
away.  Palatinates  like  these  formerly  existed  over 
large  portions  of  England, — ruled,  however,  not  by  the 
Crown  or  members  of  the  Royal  family,  but  by  subjects.1 
Down  to  the  year  1836  the  Bishop  of  Durham  was  a 
Palatine  prince  within  his  diocese,  which  he  ruled  in 
temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  matters.2  The  king's 
writ  did  not  run  within  that  diocese  till  countersigned 
by  the  bishop's  official.  The  Palatine  earldom  of 
Chester  had  formerly  its  own  courts,  its  own  attorney- 
general,  judges,  and  staff  of  officials,  together  with  its 
own  parliament.  It  was  not  till  1541  that  the  Pala- 
tinate of  Chester  was  represented  in  the  Parliament  at 
Westminster;  an  interesting  fact  which  may  afford  a 
historical  basis  for  a  demand  for  Welsh  Home  Rule  in 
the  not  distant  future.  These  Palatinates  were  a  feudal 
device  for  ruling  distant  or  disturbed  parts  of  the  empire. 
The  king  invested  an  earl  with  royal  power,  so  that  he 
could  create  peerages  and  confer  titles,  hold  courts 
and  execute  justice, — reserving,  however,  to  all  parties 
aggrieved,  the  right  of  final  appeal  to  the  supreme  royal 
authority.  The  Norman  kings  did  not  relish  such 

1  On  Palatinate  earldoms  see  Stubbs,  Const.  Hist.,  t.  i.,  pp. 
271  and  363,  chs.  ix.  and  xi.  ;  Ormcrod's  Cheshire,  t.  i.  • 
Selden's  Titles  of  Honour,  pp.  640,  etc.;  and  Irish  Arch. 
MiscclL,  p.  26,  in  the  series  of  the  Irish  Archaeological  Society* 

-'See  6  Will.  IV.,  c.  19,  for  the  transfer  of  the  Durham 
jurisdiction. 


158  IRELAND. 


jurisdictions  overmuch.  They  had  originated  in  Saxon 
times.  They  were  used  sparingly  by  the  Normans,  but 
only  sparingly,  because  they  conferred  too  much  power 
upon  subjects,  and  tempted  them  to  rebellious  courses. 
Henry  II.  found  one  in  existence  in  Ireland.  Leinster 
already  owned  Strongbow  as  its  king.  Henry  com- 
pelled its  surrender  as  a  kingdom,  and  regranted  it  as 
a  Palatine  earldom  ;  and  then,  dreading  the  power  and 
the  ambition  of  Earl  Strongbow,  he  found  rivals  for 
him,  turning  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Meath  into  a 
Palatine  earldom  for  Hugh  de  Lacy,  and  erecting 
Ulster,  comprising  quite  a  fourth  of  the  whole  country, 
into  a  Palatinate  for  John  de  Courcy.1  It  may  have 
been  a  wise  policy,  from  one  point  of  view,  to  erect 
these  great  feudal  dignities.  From  another  point  of 
view  we  can  see  that  it  sowed  the  first  seed  of  decay 
and  weakness  in  the  Anglo-Norman  conquests.  These 
great  dignitaries  had  royal  power,  as  I  have  said. 
They  could  and  did  create  nobles.  The  De  Lacys, 
Lords  of  Meath,  created  numerous  baronies,  some  still 
existing,  like  those  of  Slane,  Navan,  Dunboyne,  Killeen, 
Galtrim,  Gormanstown,  Delvin.  The  Lords  of  Leinster 
were  the  first  to  bestow  a  title  on  the  Fitz-Geralds, 
on  whom  they  conferred  the  Barony  of  Ophaley,  a 
dignity  still  enjoyed  by  their  descendants.  But  they 
also  possessed  the  right  to  wage  war  one  with 
another,  summoning  their  dependent  barons  to  their 
assistance.  This  arrangement  effectually  introduced 


1  Mr.  Lynch,  in  \\\s  Legal  Institutions,  ctc.,qflrcla?id,  p.  153, 
maintains  that  there  were  no  Palatinate  jurisdictions  in  Ireland. 
Dr.  Richey,  in  his  History  of  the  Irish  People,  2nd  cd.,  p.  170, 
asserts  the;  contrary.  Not  being  a  lawyer,  1  do  not  wish  to 
mingle  in  this  fray  ;  but  I  notice  that  Lynch,  p.  91,  states,  in 
opposition  to  his  own  view,  that  the  Ormond  Palatinate  of 
Tipperary  was  abolished  only  in  the  second  year  of  George  I. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.          159 


the  most  fatal  and  destructive  discords  among  the 
colonists.  The  wars  waged  within  the  first  fifty  years 
between  the  De  Lacys  and  the  De  Courcys  and  the 
De  Burghs ;  above  all  the  war  of  Kildare,  waged  in 
the  earlier  years  of  the  thirteenth  century,  destroyed 
the  power  of  the  Anglo-Norman  settlers,  without  any 
effort  on  the  part  of  their  opponents. 

Now  let  me  give  you  a  sketch  of  Hugh  de  Lacy's 
career  in  Ireland.1  It  is  typical  of  the  lives  led  by  the 
nobles  of  the  Anglo-Norman  colony,  and  sufficiently 
explains  the  failure  of  English  policy  in  this  country. 
Hugh  de  Lacy  was  descended  from  Walter  de  Lacy,  one 
of  the  noblest  associates  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who 
conferred  upon  him  large  grants  of  English  lands.  The 
De  Lacies  adopted  the  usual  plan  in  the  twelfth  century 
for  extending  their  estates.  They  established  them- 
selves on  the  Welsh  border,  and  strove  to  steal  all  the 
land  they  could  from  the  native  Celtic  chieftains.  They 
combined  piety  with  plunder,  after  the  manner  of  the 
times,  and  William  de  Lacy,  in  1103,  founded  the 
Abbey  of  Lanthony,  deep  in  the  recesses  of  the  Black 
Mountains  of  Brecknock  and  Monmouth,  where  an 
attempt  has  been  made,  and  is  even  now  being  made, 
to  restore  the  exercise  and  practice  of  the  monastic  life 
for  men  in  the  Church  of  England.  The  De  Lacys 
gained  the  confidence  of  Henry  II.,  and  espoused  his 
side  in  the  contest  with  King  Stephen.  Hugh  de  Lacy 
accompanied  him  into  Ireland,  and  was  rewarded  with 

'About  the  family  of  De  Lacy,  his  ancestors  and  descen- 
dants, see  a  long  article  in  Dugdale's  Baronage,  pp.  95-106, 
and  O'Donovan's  note  on  A.D.  1186,  in  the  Annals  of  the 
Four  Masters,  where  O' Donovan  tells  a  fact  of  which  Dug-dale 
knew  nothing,  that  by  Rose  O'Conor,  his  second  wife,  Hugh 
de  Lacy  was  the  ancestor  of  Pierce  Oge  Lacy,  a  noted  rebel 
in  Qu^en  Elizabeth's  time. 


160  IRELAND. 


the  Viceroyalty  of  Ireland,  and  a  magnificent  grant  of 
the  ancient  Irish  kingdom  of  Meath,  with  all  its  ancient 
royal  rights.     The  words  of  Henry's  charter,  granted 
at  Wexford   in    1172,   and  witnessed  by  Earl  Richard 
(Strongbow)  and  William  de    Braose,  a    distinguished 
noble  in   subsequent   Irish   history,   are  very  express. 
"  Know  ye  that  I  have  given  and  granted,  and  by  this 
my  present  charter  confirmed,  to  Hugh  de  Lacy,  for  his 
service  the  land  of  Meath,  with  all  its  appurtenances  by 
the  service  of  fifty  knights,  to  him  and  to  his  heirs,  to 
have  and  to  hold  from  me  and  my  heirs,  as  Murcardus 
O'Melaghlin,  or  any  other  before  or  after  him  better  held 
the  same."      These  words  plainly  conferred  royal  power 
upon  De  Lacy  as  legal  successor  to  the  dispossessed 
Melaghlin.     The  dominion  thus  given  to  De  Lacy  was 
a  splendid  one.     It  covered,  broadly  speaking,  the  pre- 
sent diocese  of  Meath  and  Clonmacnois,  extending  from 
the  Shannon  to  the  Liffey,  and  from  the  borders  of  the 
Queen's  County  and  Tipperary  to  Monaghan,  or  all  the 
great  central  plain  of   Ireland,  celebrated  to  this  day 
as  the  finest  feeding-ground  for    cattle    in    the    whole 
island. 

Hugh  de  Lacy  carried  out  the  traditional  policy 
of  Dermot  MacMurrough,  who  had  introduced  the 
Anglo-Normans.  He  retained  the  ancient  hostility  to 
O'Rourke,  prince  of  Breifny.  As  the  ally  of  the 
Leinstermen,  De  Lacy  was  necessarily  the  enemy  of 
their  bitterest  foe.  But  farther  still,  O'Rourke  had, 
amid  the  confusion  of  the  times,  taken  possession  of 
the  kingdom  of  Meath,  which  Henry  II.  had  now- 
granted  to  Hugh  de  Lacy.  This  introduced  a  new 
element  of  strife  into  a  combination  of  circumstances 
where  such  elements  already  abounded.  Hugh  de  Lacy 
cleverly  availed  himself  too  of  those  tribal  dissensions 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.          161 

which   have  ever   been-  the   bane   of    Irish   social  life. 
O'Rourke  had  quarrelled  with  a  member  of  his    own 
family,  Donnell  O'Rourke,  who  fled  for  protection  and 
revenge    to    Hugh    de    Lacy,  now    ruling    at    Dublin. 
De  Lacy  invited  O'Rourke  to  a  friendly  conference  at 
the  Hill  of  Ward,  near  Athboy,  where  the  Irish  chief- 
tain   is   said    to    have    attempted    the    murder   of    the 
Justiciary.     He    was   rescued,  however,   by  the  inter- 
ference of  Donnell  O'Rourke,  who  had  his  revenge,  for 
he  slew  the  Prince  of  Breifny  with  his  own  hand,  while 
De    Lacy,    to  accentuate   his  triumph,   had   the   body 
decapitated   and  gibbeted    over    the  northern    gate    of 
Dublin  Castle,  as  a  warning  to  his  countrymen  coming 
from  that  direction.1     He  set  to  work  vigorously  build- 
ing castles  and  erecting  fortresses  at  Trim,  at  Kells,  and 
at  every  other  point  of  vantage.2     He  fell  into  a  snare, 
however,  which  has  often  proved  fatal  to  Englishmen. 
He  fell  in  love  with  an  Irishwoman,  and  married  Rose 
the  daughter  of  Roderic  O'Conor,  King  of  Connaught, 
without  the  leave   and  license  first  obtained  of   King 
Henry    II.3     King    Henry    resented    this    action,    and 
feared  that  a  Lord  Deputy  son-in-law  to  the  King  of 
Connaught  would  never  prove  loyal  to  an  Anglo-Norman 
sovereign    at  Westminster.      He  was  dismissed    from 
his  office  as  Lord  Justice  in  liSo,  but  restored  in  llSr, 
as  he  was  found  to  be  the  only  man  who  could  rule 
Ireland. 

1  Cf.  O' Donovan's  notes  on  the  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters,  A.  I ).  1172. 

3  Giraldus  Camb.,  Conquest  of  Ireland,  ii.,  19,  attributes  to 
De  Lacy  the  building  of  the  Black  Castle,  still  existing-  at 
Leighlinbridge. 

3  This  young  lady  was  probably  grandniece  of  the  princess 
O'Conor  married,  by  Sitric,  King  of  Man,  son  of  Magnus, 
King  of  Denmark,  in  A.I),  noo,  whom  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury 
also  sought  in  marriage  as  I  have  told  in  a  note  on  p.  96. 

II 


1 62  IRELAND. 

The  fatal  weakness  of  the  first  forty  years  of  English 
rule  in  this  country  was  a  very  modern  complaint. 
In  reading  that  far-away  story  I  have  been  often 
reminded  of  modern  times.  There  was  in  ancient 
times  a  new  lord  lieutenant  or  lord  justiciary  on  an 
average  about  once  a  year,  and  as  the  natural  result 
there  was  an  utter  want  of  continuity  in  policy  and 
of  strength  in  purpose  and  in  action.  No  man  felt 
sure  of  his  own  tenure  of  office.  No  man  dared  to 
mark  out  and  pursue  a  vigorous  and  independent  line. 
A  few  words  will  illustrate  what  I  mean.  Let  us 
take  the  seventeen  years  of  King  Henry  II.'s  reign 
which  elapsed  from  the  conquest  to  his  death.  During 
that  period  we  had  the  following  lords  lieutenant  ruling 
in  Ireland.  The  first  was  Hugh  de  Lacy,  from  1 172-75. 
Then  came  Strongbow,  from  1175  till  his  death  in 
1177.  After  him  followed  William  Fitz-Aldelm,  the 
original  of  the  De  Burghos  or  the  Burkes,  who  ruled 
two  years,  and  was  dismissed  in  1179;  whereupon 
Hugh  de  Lacy  was  restored,  only  to  be  again  dismissed 
in  1 1 80,  when  the  government  was  committed  to  two 
English  officials :  John,  Constable  of  Cheshire,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Coventry.1  That  experiment,  however,  did 
not  succeed,  and  De  Lacy  was  appointed  for  the  third 


1  In  Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Documents,  p.  10,  we  have 
the  following  note  of  the  expenses  of  these  English  officials  : 
"A.D.  1180-81,  Stafford. — Henry  de  Stratton  renders  his 
account :  for  defraying  the  passage  of  John,  Constable  of 
Chester,  Richard  de  Peche,  Geoffrey  de  Hay,  and  Wildo  the 
clerk,  sent  as  messengers  into  Ireland,  £11  us.  8d.,  by  writ 
of  Ranulf  de  Glanville  ;  and  for  forty  seams  of  wheat  and 
twenty  hogs  which  the  king  gave  to  Richard  de  Peche  going 
to  that  country,  66s.  8<a?.,  by  the  king's  writ  [Pipe,  27  Hen.  II., 
Rot.  8.]"  The  king  evidently  thought  an  official  from  Chester 
with  Celtic  experience  among  the  Welsh  might  succeed 
where  pure  Norman  officials  failed.  Cf.  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
Conquest  of  Ireland,  bk.  ii.,  ch.  xxi. 


NOfr.VAN  ORGANIZATION  <9/~  IRELAND.          163 

time  in  1181,  but  only  to  be  dismissed  again  in  1184, 
when  Philip  of  Worcester  was  appointed.  There  had 
been  already  seven  chief  governors  in  twelve  years  of 
Norman  rule.  One  would  imagine  I  was  lecturing 
about  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
not  upon  the  similar  period  of  the  twelfth. 

But  to  make  the  parallel  still  more  complete,  we  find 
that  Henry  II.  then  thought  he  would  try  the  effect  of 
a  royal  residence  and  a  viceroy  chosen  from  his  own 
family.  Prince  John  was,  therefore,  sent  over  as  Lord 
of  Ireland  in  1185.  He  was  only  a  boy,  indeed,  and 
he  came  over  with  a  parcel  of  boys  like  himself,  who 
insulted  the  natives,  princes  and  people  alike.  They 
plucked  the  beards  of  the  kings,  pulled  their  noses, 
stuck  pins  in  them,  pulled  about  their  best  clothes, 
shut  the  doors  on  their  heels  as  they  left  the  royal  pre- 
sence, and  treated  men  of  lineage  going  back  a  thousand 
years  as  if  they  were  wild  savages,  and  in  consequence 
sent  princes  away  thoroughly  hostile,  who  had  come 
as  friends  to  pay  their  respects  to  their  feudal  lord.1 
But  John's  short  rule  of  eight  months  alienated  more 
than  the  Irish  princes.  He  brought  a  shoal  of  needy 
Norman  courtiers  with  him,  men  who  had  known 
nothing  of  the  work  of  conquest,  but  wished  to  enjoy 

1  The  notices  of  John's  expedition  in  the  Pipe  Roll  Ac- 
counts prove  that  Prince  John  came  to  Ireland  amply  supplied 
for  all  purposes  of  pleasure.  Thus  we  read  in  Sweetman's 
Calendar  of  Documents,  pp.  n  and  12:  "The  Sheriff  of 
Gloucester  renders  his  account  :  paid  to  Robert  Ruffus  and 
other  attendants  of  John,  the  king's  son,  to  procure  requi- 
sites for  the  bakehouse  and  kitchen  of  the  king's  son, 
£()  5-S1.  od."  And  again  :  "  Robert  Fitz-Pagan  renders  his 
account:  for  a  cheese  bought  for  the  use  of  John,  the  king's 
son,  £10  19^.  t\d.  ;  hire  of  a  ship  to  carry  into  Ireland  Roger 
Rastel  and  other  sportsmen,  with  their  horses  and  dogs,  23^. ; 
fittings  for  the  chamber  and  kitchen  of  John,  the  king's  son, 
^15  17^.  3^."  The  prince's  journey  must  have  been  an 


164  IRELAND. 

all  its  spoils.  "  Great  talkers,"  as  Cambrensis  de- 
scribes them,  "  boasters  and  swearers,  very  proud  and 
contemners  of  all  others,  greedy  of  places,  of  honour, 
of  profit,  but  backward  in  undertaking  any  hazardous 
and  dangerous  action,  or  performing  any  service  that 
might  deserve  them."  1  These  worthies  despised  the 
men  who  had  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day; 
treated  them  as  mere  provincials,  only  one  degree 
better  than  the  Celts  whom  the  new  comers  had 
insulted.  The  old  warriors  knew  nothing  of  Norman 
refinement  or  courtly  life  as  these  young  sprigs  had 
seen  it  developed  within  the  previous  ten  years  on 
the  banks  of  the  Thames,  and  were,  therefore,  pushed 
aside  to  make  way  for  the  prince's  boon  friends  and 
companions.  The  first  residence  and  rule  of  a  royal 
prince  in  Ireland  originated  the  most  fatal  of  all  the 
divisions  which  hindered  the  power  of  England  in 
Ireland — the  division,  1  mean,  between  the  English  by 
blood  and  the  English  by  birth,  or,  to  use  modern 
expressions,  between  the  English  and  the  Anglo-Irish. 
Prince  John's  government  was  in  every  respect  a 
disastrous  one.  It  lasted  but  eight  months,  and  yet 
it  sowed  seeds  of  mischief  which  have  not  yet  fully 
matured.  To  John  succeeded  Earl  de  Courcy  as  Lord 
Justice,  who  after  the  usual  two  years'  tenure  of  office 


expensive  one  for  his  father.  With  these  details  of  the 
expedition  in  1184  there  may  be  compared  the  expenses 
incurred  when  the  same  prince  visited  Ireland  in  1210.  John 
as  king'  was  much  the  same  as  John  when  prince.  See  p.  64, 
where  we  read  :  "  To  Robert  de  Ros,  for  play  at  Carlingford 
with  Warin  Fitz-Gerold,  when  the  king  was  his  partner, 
37-y.  <\d.  To  the  same,  2os.  t\d  when  he  played  with  Warin 
and  the  king1  was  his  partner."  Cf.  Lacroix's  Manners,  etc., 
of  the  Middle  A^'cs  for  a  full  statement  of  the  games  and 
other  customs  of  these  times. 
1  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  ii.,35- 


NORMAN   ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND. 


was  dismissed,  and  followed  by  Hugh  cle  Lacy  the 
younger.1  Now  remember  what  my  point  was.  I  in- 
sisted that  the  fatal  weakness  of  Norman  policy  in  this 
country  was  its  want  of  continuity.  And  how  could 
there  have  been  continuity  of  policy  when  no  less  than 
seventeen  chief  governors  ruled  in  Dublin  during  the 
period  of  the  first  seventeen  years  of  Norman  power  ? 

De  Lacy  was  the  most  vigorous  of  them  all,  and  the 
fittest  for  that  rough  work  the  times  demanded.  His 
personal  appearance  can  even  be  realized,  as  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  has  left  us  a  vigorously-drawn  portrait  of 
him.  He  was  short  in  stature,  ill-proportioned  in 
shape  ;  his  neck  short,  his  body  hairy  and  very 
muscular ;  his  complexion  was  dark,  his  eyes  black 
and  sunken  ;  his  nose  was  flat,  while  his  face  was 
decorated  with  a  scar  reaching  from  his  right  eye  to 
his  chin.2  He  was  certainly  no  beauty  in  person  ; 
but  he  had  all  the  qualities  for  such  a  chief 
ruler  as  Ireland  then  needed.  He  was  firm,  tem- 
perate, and  indefatigable  in  the  work  of  government 
and  public  business.  He  was  wise  and  prudent 
in  his  view  of  Irish  affairs  and  the  remedies  most 
needed  by  them.  He  put  a  stop  to  the  wholesale 
evictions  the  Norman  chiefs  were  indulging  in.  Like 
William  the  Conqueror  in  Northumberland,  and  Rufus 
in  the  New  Forest,  they  thought  the  only  plan  to 
secure  their  conquests  was  by  the  extermination  or 
exile  of  all  the  original  inhabitants.  De  Lacy  reinstated 
the  exiled  peasants  upon  their  submission,  and  thus 

1  We  can  trace  many  of  these  changes  of  chief  governors 
in  the  Pipe  Roll  Accounts.     See  for  De  Courcy's  appointment 
Svveetman's   Calendar,  p.    15.     His  passage  to  Ireland  cost 
;£io  3^.  zfc/.     The  official  journeys  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  are 
still  very  expensive  things, 

2  Giraldus,  Conquest  of  Ireland,  ii.,  20. 


1 66  IRELAND. 


turned  the  barren  wastes  into  pastures  stocked  with 
herds  of  cattle.  He  gained  the  confidence  of  the 
people  by  his  mild  administration  and  firm  adherence  to 
treaties,  and  then  enforced  a  rigid  submission  to  the 
laws,  by  which  means  we  are  assured  that  "where  his 
predecessors  had  spread  ruin  and  confusion,  he  restored 
order;  and  where  they  had  sown  toil  and  trouble,  he 
reaped  the  happiest  fruits." J  He  was  great  as  an 
organiser.  He  planted  castles  in  every  direction,  the 
remains  of  some  of  which  still  testify  to  the  grandeur 
of  his  ideas.  He  built  Kilkea  Castle,  still  used  by 
the  Dukes  of  Leinster,  and  Black  Castle,  at  Leighlin 
Bridge,  on  the  banks  of  the  Barrow,  to  command  that 
famous  pass  between  Ossory  and  Leinster.  The  ruins 
of  that  castle  now  excite  the  admiration  of  the  few  stray 
tourists  who  care  to  investigate  the  beauties  of  our 
own  scenery  ;  while  if  you  will  wander  along  the  Boyne 
valley  and  through  the  fertile  plains  of  Meath  and 
Westmeath,  you  will  find  many  an  ancient  ruin — some 
of  them,  like  Trim  Castle,  still  almost  habitable — testify- 
ing to  the  vigour  and  genius  with  which  De  Lacy  ruled, 
amid  all  the  difficulties  by  which  he  was  surrounded. - 


1  Giraldus,  Conquest  of  Ireland,  ii.,  19. 

2  About  Kilkea  Castle  see  O'Donovan's  notes  on  A.D.    1186 
in  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters.  Cf.  Ryan's  Car  low,  p.  54, 
and  the   Journal   of   the  Kilkenny    Archaeological    Society 
(1854),  iii.  123.    Kilkea  Castle  will  well  repay  inspection.    It 
is   about    four    miles   from    Athy,   and    is  one   of  the  finest 
mediaeval  castles  now  inhabited.     Its  narrow  staircases  and 
passages  and  deep  embayed  windows  show  how  inconvenient 
these  castles  must  have  been,  judged  from  our  modern  stand- 
point.    I  am  sure  De  Lacy  never  could  have  built  the  castles 
attributed  to  him  by  Giraldus  and  others   in  the  style  and 
fashion  now  indicated  by  their  ruins.     He  began  the  work  with 
some  rough  fortifications;  others  completed  them.      See  also 
Dean    Butler's    Trim    and  Wilde's  Beauties  of   the    Boyne 
and  Blackwater  for    much    information    about    De    Lacy's 
buildings. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.  167 

He  organised  the  feudal  society  of  which  he  was  head 
in  its  various  ranks.  He  was  palatine  prince  of  Meath, 
and  as  such  claimed  and  possessed  power  to  create 
peers  of  his  own  ;  and  down  to  the  present  time  there 
are  peerages  in  existence,  like  that  of  Nugent,  Mar- 
quess of  Westmeath,  and  Plunkett,  Baron  of  Dunsany, 
besides  numerous  extinct  ones,  which  trace  their  first 
origin  back  to  grants,  not  from  the  Crown,  but  from  the 
De  Lacys,  Lords  of  the  kingdom  of  Meath. 

De  Lacy's  organizing  genius  did  not  forget  another 
great  influence.  He  recognised  the  power  of  the  Church, 
and  duly  strove  to  propitiate  it  in  his  own  behalf.  He 
bestowed  lavish  endowments  on  the  Norman  monastery 
built  just  outside  the  gates  of  Dublin,  dedicated  in 
honour  of  the  new  and  fashionable  martyr  St.  Thomas 
a  Becket.  There  he  buried  his  first  wife,1  and  there  part 
of  his  own  body  was  laid.  He  built  Bective  Abbey, 
whose  magnificent  ruins,  overhanging  the  Boyne  near 
Navan,  still  testify  to  the  grand  conceptions  of  mediaeval 
architects,  and  there  his  body  rested  for  a  time.  King 
Henry  and  Prince  John  bestowed  lavish  endowments 
on  Mellifont  Abbey,  near  the  site  of  the  Battle  of  the 
Boyne.  De  Lacy,  in  the  charter  conveying  the  royal 
grants,  adds  his  own  gift  of  two  carucates  of  land 
in  the  county  Meath,  the  very  names  and  positions  of 
which  can  still  be  traced.-  His  second  marriage  even, 
which  caused  his  fall  in  royal  favour,  may  have  formed 


1  See  Char  tee,  Privilegia  ct  Immunitates,  p.  17,  published 
by  the  Irish  Record  Office,  where  H.  de  Lacy  the  younger 
states,  in  a  charter  to  St.  Thomas's  Abbey,  Dublin,  that  his 
mother,  Rosa  de  Munemna,  rested  in  its  cemetery. 

-'See  Irish  Archceological  Miscellany,  p.  159,  in  the  Irish 
Archaeological  Society's  series,  where  all  the  grants  to  Mellifont 
are  identified  from  the  Ordnance  Maps.  The  names  of  the 


168  IRELAND. 


part  of  the  same  masterly  scheme  of  organization. 
He  married  a  Rose  O'Conor,  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Connaught,  because  he  recognised  more  clearly  than  his 
countrymen  that  the  Irish  might  be  gained  over  to 
alliance  and  friendship  with  England  more  quickly  by 
the  methods  of  love  and  gentleness  than  by  those  of 
wrath  and  terror.  And  yet,  with  all  his  wisdom,  Hugh 
de  Lacy  fell  a  victim  to  the  outraged  feelings  and 
prejudices  of  the  Celtic  race.  The  story  of  his  death 
is  a  sad  and  a  striking  one,  for  it  involves  all  the 
elements  which  have  ever  since  combined  to  produce 
similar  deeds  of  blood. 

In  the  year  1186  he  was  prosecuting  with  vehem- 
ence his  plans  for  developing  his  dominion  of  Meath. 
Every  corner  of  it  was  to  be  secured  by  castles. 
Durrow,  in  the  south-west  of  his  kingdom,  was  a  famous 
spot  from  ancient  times.  There  Columba  founded  one 
of  his  most  famous  Irish  convents.  The  Book  of 
Durrow  to  this  day  testifies,  in  Trinity  College  Library, 
to  the  skill  and  piety  with  which  some  of  Columba's 
followers  laboured  at  Durrow  more  than  a  thousand 
years  ago.  De  Lacy  did  not,  however,  care  one  whit 
about  ancient  Celtic  saints.  He  had  a  great  regard  for 
Cistercian  Abbeys,  and  St.  Thomas's  Monastery  in 
Dublin,  and  similar  Anglo-Norman  foundations.1  But 
he  had  a  profound  contempt  for  the  old  Celtic  saints 
like  Columba  and  Kieran  of  Clonmacnois,  and  violated 
their  sanctuaries,  and  appropriated  their  cemeteries  with 


townlands  are  the  same  in  1889  as  they  were  in  1184.  A 
carucate  of  land  was  the  space  one  plough  could  cultivate  in 
the  course  of  a  year. 

1  Cistercian  Abbeys  were  often  built  by  Norman  nobles  on 
the  sites  of  ancient  Celtic  foundations.  See  Ulster  Journal  of 
Archeology,  t.  ii.,  p.  52. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.  169 


the  most  cynical  disregard  for  religious  instincts.1  He 
wished  to  build  a  castle  at  Durrow  ;  he  seized,  therefore, 
a  portion  of  the  Abbey  lands,  and  utilised  it  for  this 
purpose.  Another  powerful  motive  in  a  Celtic  breast 
came  into  play,  and  that  was  the  land  question.  The 
country  round  Durrow  belonged  to  a  chief  and  family 
named  Fox.  This  chieftain  had  been  dispossessed  by 
De  Lacy,  and  was  determined  upon  revenge.  O'Caharny 
Fox  sent  a  foster-brother  or  foster-son  to  work  upon 
the  castle,  and  to  carry  out  his  fell  purpose.  The  man 
waited  and  watched  till  at  last  he  saw  his  opportunity, 
on  July  25th,  1186.  De  Lacy  was  headlong  in  all  his 
operations,  flinging  himself  personally  into  every  work 
and  taking  his  share  in  every  task.  He  was  using 
a  pickaxe  when  the  Irishman,  seeing  his  body  bent, 
sprang  forward,  and  with  one  blow  of  his  keen  Irish  axe 
deprived  De  Lacy  of  life  and  the  English  colony  of  its 
ablest  leader.2  The  body  of  the  murdered  chieftain  fell 
into  the  ditch  or  fosse  of  the  castle,  while  the  murderer, 
who  was  thin  and  active  as  a  greyhound,  escaped  all 
pursuit,  and,  like  many  a  similar  offender  since,  was 
hailed  as  a  champion  of  independence  by  his  country- 
men.3 De  Lacy  was  murdered  in  July  1186.  It  is  a 


1  Cf.  the  account  given  of  De  Lacy's  death  by  the  Four 
Masters,  A.D.  1186,  together  with  O'Donovan's  notes  and  his 
letter  on  Durrow  and  De  Lacy's  death  in  the  Ordnance 
Survey  Correspondence,  "  King's  County  Letters,"  t.  i.,  p.  147, 
dated  Jan.  6th,  1838. 

-  See  upon  the  use  of  the  axe  among  the  ancient  Irish  the 
Archaeological  Miscellany  of  the  Irish  Arch.  Soc.,  p.  241. 
Cf.  Dymmok's  Treatise  oj  Ireland,  pp.  7, 57,  in  Tractsrelating 
to  Ireland  (Irish  Arch.  Soc.:  Dublin,  1843). 

3  The  man  that  killed. De  Lacy  was  called  O'Meyey,  a  family 
name  not  yet  extinct  in  Westmeath.  He  escaped  to  the  wood 
of  Killclare,  where  he  was  met  by  Fox,  the  local  chieftain  who 
had  incited  him  to  the  assassination,  and  by  O'Breen,  the  chief 
of  Brawney,  the  district  round  Athlone.  The  family  of  Fox  is 


170  IRELAND. 

curious  circumstance  that  nearly  seven  centuries  later, 
on  exactly  the  same  spot,  another  eminent  English  noble 
met  with  the  same  fate,  arising  out  of  somewhat  similar 
reasons.  In  1839  the  Earl  of  Norbury  was  assassinated 
at  Durrow  after  he  had  erected  a  castle  on  the  site  of 
De  Lacy's.  Religious  motives  too  entered  into  the 
transaction.  Norbury,  like  De  Lacy,  is  said  to  have 
insulted  Columcille.  De  Lacy  appropriated  his  land  ; 
Lord  Norbury  prevented  his  tenantry  burying  their 
dead  in  the  ancient  Columban  cemetery  of  Durrow. 

Such  was  the  life,  such  the  achievements,  and  such 
the  death  of  a  typical  Norman  conqueror.  He  was 
vigorous,  thorough,  restless  in  activity,  wise  in  council, 
prudent  in  action,  indefatigable  in  business.  He  took 
the  measure  of  the  people  he  ruled,  and  succeeded  so 
well,  that  in  later  ages  his  government  was  looked  back 
to  as  those  halcyon  times  when  "  the  priest  kept  his 
church,  the  souldier  his  garrison,  and  the  plow-man 
followed  his  plow,"  in  peace.1  A  few  Hugh  de  Lacys 
might  have  changed  the  fortunes  of  the  English  colony 
and  of  the  Irish  people. 

Hugh  de  Lacy  was  the  first  Justiciary,  Constable, 
Bailiff,  and  Lord-Deputy  of  Ireland.  The  second, 
Count  Richard,  or  Earl  Strongbow,  was  even  a  more 
famous  man  ;  but  as  I  have  already  said  a  great  deal 
about  him,  I  shall  now  dismiss  his  history  in  a  few 


still  represented  among  the  landlords  of  the  same  district.  In 
the  Parliamentary  Gazetteer  of  Ireland  I  find,  under  the 
head  of  Durrow,  that  the  parish  church  was  restored  in  the 
present  century  at  the  expense  of  Mrs.  Fox.  See  O'Donovan's 
notes  on  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1186;  his 
letter  in  the  Ordnance  Survey  Correspondence  already  quoted, 
and  a  paper  by  him  on  the  family  of  Fox  in  the  Irish  Archaeo- 
logical Miscellany,  p.  184  (Dublin:  1846). 
1  Hanmer's  Chronicle,  p.  318,  ed. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.  171 


words.  Hugh  de  Lacy  was  deposed  from  his  post  as 
Lord  Justice  in  1 175.  Henry  II.  had  carried  Strongbow 
over  to  France  to  assist  him  in  his  wars  against  his 
rebellious  sons.  He  wished  also  to  secure  himself 
against  Strongbow's  suspected  treason.  He  was  now 
too  powerful  a  subject  to  leave  all  unhampered  and 
unrestrained  with  such  a  tempting  prize  as  the  kingdom 
of  Ireland  lying  derelict  within  his  grasp.  Strongbow 
used  his  three  years  in  Normandy  to  good  purpose, 
proved  his  fidelity  and  his  courage,  and  so  gained  upon 
the  king  that  when  De  Lac}'  was  dismissed  Strongbow 
was  sent  over  as  Justiciary  to  represent  the  supreme 
power  of  England  before  the  Irish  clans.  He  ruled 
two  years  and  then  died.  Yet  of  those  two  short  years 
we  have  many  memorials.  He  created  peers,  as  King 
of  Leinster,  and  thus  pursued  the  feudal  system  of  land 
conquest  and  settlement.  Kilkenny  Castle  contains 
one  of  the  greatest  collections  of  historical  documents 
existing  in  these  kingdoms,  gathered  during  the 
seven  centuries  in  which  the  Butler  family  have  played 
a  leading  part  in  our  historic  annals.  At  Kilkenny 
Castle  we  therefore  find  an  original  charter  of  Strong- 
bow's.  It  is  a  precious  curiosity,  bringing  us  back 
to  the  earliest  days  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  and 
purports  to  convey  to  Adam  de  Hereford  half  the  town 
of  Aghaboe,  and  the  half  cantred  of  land  adjoining  in 
Ossory.  This  Adam  of  Hereford  is  one  of  the  Norman 
knights  mentioned  by  Morice  Regan  l  as  richly  gifted 
by  Strongbow,  and  then,  to  confirm  Regan's  accuracy, 
we  find  in  Kilkenny  Castle  the  very  charter  conveying 
Strongbow's  gifts,  with  the  original  seal  appended,  con- 
taining figures  of  a  knight  on  one  side  and  a  heavy- 


1  Anglo-Norman  Poem,  ed.  Wright,  1.  4006. 


172  IRELAND. 

armed  footman  on  the  other, — authentic  pictures,  that 
is,  of  the  soldiery  who  conquered  Ireland.1 

Strongbow  claimed  all  his  rights  as  King  of  Leinster. 
He  disposed  of  Church  patronage  as  kings  were  wont. 
We  have  still  a  charter  from  Strongbow  bestowing 
the  Abbey  of  Glendalough  upon  a  favourite  of  his. 
He  built  and  endowed  abbeys  in  honour  of  Norman 
saints, — evicting  Celtic  saints  to  make  room  for  them. 
He  bestowed  endowments  on  Christ  Church  Cathedral, - 
and  when  he  died  in  1177  the  Prior  and  Chapter  of 
Christ  Church  buried  him  with  all  due  honour  and 
magnificence.  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  the  Archbishop, 
himself  presided  over  the  funeral  rites,  while  the 
Chapter  commemorated  his  memory  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  as  among  its  chief  benefactors  ;  his  ordinary 
obit  being  celebrated  on  April  2Oth,  the  day  probably 
of  his  death,  while  his  memory  was  still  more  solemnly 
celebrated  every  year,  with  bells  ringing  and  lights 
burning,  on  the  Sunday  next  after  August  1st,  the  feast 
of  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula.3 

The  viceroyalty  of  Strongbow  is  said,  by  tradition,  to 
have  been  marked  by  a  great  tragedy.  He  had  a  son  by 
his  first  wife,  and  by  him  Strongbow  was  accompanied 
into  Ireland.  He  was  marching  to  relieve  Fitz-Stephen 
when  the  Irish  forces  attacked  the  earl.  His  son  sup- 
ported him  for  a  time,  and  then  fled.  The  earl  gained 
the  day,  and  then  ordered  his  son  to  be  cut  in  two  for 
his  cowardice,  burying  him  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral, 


1  See  Journal  of  Kilk.  Arch.  Society,  t.  i.,  p.  501 — 504. 

-See  Strongbow' s  charters  in  Chartce,  Privilegiaet  Immu- 
nitates,  Dublin  Record  Office. 

:!  See  Book  of  Obits  of  Christ  Church,  pp.  21,  57,  in  Irish 
Archaeological  Series  (Dublin  :  1843).  Girald.  Camb.,  Con- 
quest of  Ireland,  ii.,  14,  states  that  Strongbow  died  about 
June  ist.  Cf.  Gilbert's  History  of  Dublin,  t.  i.,  pp.  102,  112. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION   OF  IRELAND.          173 


where   Hanmer    states  he   set  up   the  following   Latin 
inscription  : 

"  Nate  ingrate  mihi  pugnanti  terga  dedisti 
Non  mihi,  sed  genti  et  regno  quoque  terga  dedisti, "- 

lines  which  the  chronicler  turns  into  English  verse  as 
•follows  : — 

"  My  son,  unkind,  didst  fiye  the  field,  the  father  fighting 

hard  ; 

Nor  me,  nor  English  birth   didst  weigh,    nor  kingdome 
didst  regard." 

Strongbow's  career  as  Chief  Governor  of  Ireland  was 
not  a  lengthened  one,  as  after  a  two  years'  rule  he  fell 
sick  and  died,  leaving  the  English  colony  in  a  position 
of  great  peril.  The  ready  wit  of  a  woman  brought 
them  relief.  Strongbow  had  married  his  sister  Basilia 
to  Raymond  le  Gros,  one  of  the  original  adventurers. 
This  Raymond  was  the  ablest  and  most  successful 
general  of  all  the  Fitz-Gerald  faction.  Strongbow  died 
in  the  late  spring  or  early  summer  of  1 177.  Raymond 
and  the  great  body  of  the  English  troops  were  at  that 
time  engaged  in  suppressing  a  formidable  rebellion  at 
Limerick.  Basilia  was  with  her  brother,  Earl  Strongbow, 
in  Dublin.  She  knew  right  well  how  dangerous  the 
position  of  the  Normans,  few  in  numbers,  would  be  if 
their  leader  was  known  to  be  dead.  So  with  all  a  woman's 
tact  she  concealed  the  earl's  death,  and  despatched  a 
letter  by  a  special  messenger  to  her  husband  summoning 
him  to  her  side  as  the  ablest  Norman  in  the  land.  The 
letter  was  sufficiently  enigmatical  to  puzzle  any  hostile 
person  into  whose  hands  it  might  fall.  It  ran  as  follows  : 
"  To  Raymond,  her  well-beloved  lord  and  husband,  his 
Basilia  wisheth  health  as  to  herself.  Be  it  known  to 
your  sincere  love  that  the  great  jaw-tooth  which  used  to 
give  me  so  much  uneasiness  has  fallen  out.  Wherefore  if 


174  IRELAND. 

you  have  any  care  or  regard  for  me,  or  even  for  your- 
self, return  with  all  speed."  1  A  summons  which  the 
gallant  Raymond  obeyed  at  once,  and  thus  saved  the 
infant  colony  from  serious  peril. 

I  need  not  pursue  the  history  of  the  Viceroys 
further,  for  they  will  often  come  before  us  in  future 
lectures.  But  what  a  lesson  the  historical  student 
gains  from  our  brief  survey !  These  earliest  Viceroys 
and  their  masters  formed  the  type  and  determined 
the  course  of  English  policy  in  this  country.  Just  as 
David's  polygamy  introduced  a  fatal  weakness  into 
Judah's  national  history ;  just  as  Jeroboam's  idolatry 
poisoned  the  sources  of  Israel's  national  life,  so  that 
from  the  sins  of  Jeroboam  the  son  of  Nebat  king  after 
king  departed  not ;  so  the  earliest  history  of  our  Irish 
Viceroys  determined  the  course  of  future  policy.  Insta- 
bility of  purpose,  want  of  continuity  and  of  strength, 
intrigue  and  perpetual  changes — these  things  constituted 
the  weakness  of  Irish  administration  in  the  Plantagenet 
times,  and  led  infallibly  to  Irish  discontent  and  confu- 
sion. You  may  be  sure  of  this,  that  confusion  in  a 
nation  is  like  confusion  in  a  schoolroom.  If  a  school 
is  confused,  noisy,  rebellious,  it  is  the  master's  fault  just 
as  much  as  the  children's.  The  children  may  be  bold — 
and  what  children  are  not  ? — but  the  confusion  results, 
not  from  the  innate  boldness  of  the  pupils,  but  from  the 
lack  of  force  and  determination  in  the  teacher.  Nations 
are  simply  big  schools.  Ireland  has  been  an  exceptionally 
troublesome  one,  but  its  troubles  and  confusion  have 
arisen  quite  as  much  from  the  faults,  the  weakness,  the 
vacillation,  the  want  of  continuous  policy  in  its  earliest 
rulers,  as  from  the  vices  or  defects  of  its  inhabitants, 

1  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  Conquest  of  Ireland,  ii.,  14. 


NORMAN  ORGANIZATION  OF  IRELAND.          175 

Celtic,  Norman,  or  Saxon.  Instability,  weakness,  want 
of  will  and  purpose,  must  ever  fail  with  nations,  families, 
or  individuals,  for  instability  has  marked  upon  its  brow 
the  stigma  of  the  Divine  judgment,  and  stands  con- 
demned in  the  records  of  Inspiration,  which,  reiterating 
and  enforcing  the  lesson  of  this  lecture,  declares  :  ''  He 
that  wavereth  is  like  a  wave  of  the  sea  driven  with 
the  wind  and  tossed.  Let  not  that  man  think  that 
he  shall  receive  any  thing  of  the  Lord." 


LECTURE  VIII. 

ST.  LA  URENCE  a  TOOLS  AND  THE  CATHEDRAL 
CHURCH  OF  THE  HOL  Y  TRINITY. 

I  HAVE  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  over  an  exposition 
of  the  political  and  social  state  of  Ireland  during 
the  period  of  Henry  II.  It  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  do  so.  The  ecclesiastic  pure  and  simple  looks  at  all 
mundane  affairs  merely  from  his  own  narrow  profes- 
sional point  of  view;  he  regards  wars  and  political 
changes  and  social  revolutions  as  of  no  importance  save 
so  far  as  they  touch  upon  and  affect  his  own  personal  or 
caste  interests.  But  we  have  not  so  learned  ecclesi- 
astical history,  and  our  ideas  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  are 
not  limited  by  the  interests  or  designs  of  any  special 
class  whatsoever.  We  believe  in  Church  and  State  as 
embodying  a  grand  ideal.  The  Church  affects  the  State 
and  the  State  affects  the  Church.  David  prepared  pre- 
cious stones,  and  cedar-wood,  and  gold  and  silver  in 
abundance;  and  Solomon  built  up  a  wrondrous  house, 
where  neither  axe  nor  hammer  was  heard;  and  that 
house  in  turn  reacted  upon  Jerusalem  and  made  it  the 
city  of  the  Great  King,  the  centre  of  earthly  interests 
unto  all  generations  of  His  people.  Church  and  State 
in  Zion  were  united  most  closely,  and  no  matter  how 
statesmen  may  plot  to  divorce  religion  from  daily  life,  the 
dearest  of  all  human  interests,  the  keenest  of  all  human 


ST.    LAURENCE    O'TOOLE.  177 

hopes,  must  assert  itself  and  claim  a  voice  in  the  dis- 
position and  government  of  human  affairs.  For  this 
reason  we  have  devoted  the  preceding  lectures  to  the 
development  of  the  Anglo-Norman  State  and  its  organi- 
sations as  introduced  into  Ireland  by  the  Anglo-Normans 
of  the  twelfth  century.  We  now  proceed  to  our 
more  immediate  subject — the  introduction  and  develop- 
ment of  the  Anglo-Norman  Church  and  the  relations 
which  existed  between  it  and  the  ancient  Celtic  Church 
of  this  country. 

I  must  ask  you  to  start  from  the  Synod  of  Kells  in 
March  1152,  when  Cardinal  John  Paparo  established 
the  four  archbishoprics  of  Ireland,  turning  Gregory, 
the  last  bishop,  into  the  first  Archbishop  of  Dublin. 
To  him  succeeded  St.  Laurence  O'Toole  in  1161. 
I  have  already  given  a  very  brief  sketch  of  St. 
Laurence's  life  in  a  published  lecture  on  the  See  of 
Dublin,1  but  must  now  go  into  his  history  a  little  more 
fully,  as  Archbishop  Laurence  forms  the  connecting 
link  between  the  ancient  Celtic,  the  Danish,  and  the 
Anglo-Norman  Church  of  Dublin.  All  the  previous 
bishops  of  Dublin  had  been  Danish  by  birth,  connexion, 
and  consecration,  but  Laurence  O'Toole  was  a  Celt  by 
birth ;  you  can  still  see  the  tomb  of  his  ancestor,  or,  at 
least,  his  connexion,  in  the  Refert  Church  at  Glenda- 
lough,  where  formerly  was  an  inscription  testifying  to 
the  death  of  King  O'Toole  in  1010.  St.  Laurence  was 
not  only  a  Celt,  he  was  also  brother-in-law  of  King 
Dermot  himself,  who,  notwithstanding,  is  said  to  have 


1  See  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  p.  326.  The  authori- 
ties for  the  life  of  St.  Laurence  are  Surii,  Vita  SS.,  t.  vi., 
pp.  331-39;  Messingham's  Florilegium,  p.  379;  a  MS. 
Life  in  Marsh's  Library  classed  v.  3,  4;  and  a  conve- 
nient English  version  of  his  life,  by  the  Rev.  John  O'Hanlon 
(Dublin  :  1857). 

12 


178  IRELAND. 

treated  him  very  cruelly  in  our  saint's  boyish  days.1 
Laurence  O'Toole  was  born  at  Castle  Dermot  in  the  co. 
Kildare  about  1132.  He  was  educated  at  Glendalough, 
— which  was  then  no  mean  seminary,  as  a  bi-lingual 
inscription  in  Greek  and  Irish,  now  preserved  in  St. 
Kevin's  stone-roofed  church,  plainly  proves.2  He  de- 
voted his  life  to  works  of  piety,  charity,  and  learning, 
so  that  he  was  elected  Abbot  of  Glendalough  when  only 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  There  was  at  that  time  an 
Abbot  and  also  a  Bishop  of  Glendalough,  quite  distinct 
the  one  from  the  other ;  and  the  most  curious  point  is 
this,  the  abbacy  would  seem  to  have  been  much  richer 
in  value  and  extent  of  estates  than  the  bishopric. 
However,  we  shall  come  across  this  abbey  somewhat 
later  in  our  narrative,  and  have  more  to  say  about  it. 
Laurence  O'Toole,  after  serving  the  office  of  abbot, 
was  elevated  in  the  year  1161  to  the  Archbishopric  of 
Dublin,  an  election  which  was  all  the  more  popular 
perchance  because  King  Dermot  MacMur rough  was 
bitterly  hostile  to  St.  Laurence.  The  new  prelate 
took  up  his  residence  on  Christ  Church  Hill,  where 
his  palace  was  situated  on  the  site  occupied  by 
the  present  Synod  House,  and  previously  by  the 
Church  of  St.  Michael.3  Now,  it  is  worthy  of  careful 


1  O'Hanlon's  Life  of  Laurence  O'Toole,  pp.  11-13,  rnakes 
Laurence's  sister,  Mor  O'Toole,  wife  of  Dermot  MacMurrough. 
See  Book  of  Leinster,  fol.  245,  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  ; 
cf.  O' Donovan's  note  on  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters 
A.D.  1164,  where  his  genealogy  is  given. 

a  See  a  paper  in  the  Journal  of  the  Historical  and  Archaeo- 
logical Association  of  Ireland,  A.D.  1883-4,  by  tne  RCV-  James 
Graves,  on  this  inscription. 

3  The  site  of  St.  Laurence's  residence  is  fixed  by  the  follow- 
ing quotation  from  the  Repertorium  Viride  of  Archbishop 
AJan,  A.D.  1530,  confirmed  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  writing 
more  than  three  centuries  earlier.  Alan  says  :  "  Ecclesia  de 
S'°  Michaele.  Ecclesia  ista  parochialis  a  primaeva  fundatione 


ST.    LAURENCE   0' TO  OLE.  179 


notice  that  the  See  of  Dublin  seems  at  that  time  to  have 
been  limited  territorially  to  the  walls  and  suburbs  of  the 
city,1  extending,  perhaps,  its  sway  over  the  Danish  in- 
habitants of  Dublin  wherever  they  settled  all  along  the 
coast.  An  episcopate  of  this  kind,  not  territorial  but 
rather  personal  in  its  jurisdiction,  has  not  been  and  is 
not  unknown.  Even  in  pre-Christian  times  we  find  that 
the  Jewish  high  priest  at  Jerusalem  and  the  Sanhedrim 
exercised  such  a  personal  jurisdiction  over  the  Jews 
scattered  throughout  the  world.2  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  such  bishops  ruling  the  Uniat  Greeks  and 
their  married  priesthood  scattered  through  the  provinces 
of  Southern  Italy.3  Our  own  bishops  of  Gibraltar  and 

capella  extitit  infra  Palatium  Sti  Laurentii."  While  we  read 
in  Giraldus  Cambrensis'  Topography,  ii.,  46,  of  a  certain 
archer  who  confessed  to  having  stolen  money  from  the  bishop's 
residence  within  the  precincts  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity.  The  palace  must  have  therefore  adjoined  the  Cathe- 
dral. Cf.  Ussher's  Works,  ed.  Elrington,  vi.  424. 

1  Ussher,  in  his  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Irish,  Works,  ed. 
Elrington,  iv.  326,  expressly  asserts  this  on  the  testimony  of 
a  letter  from  the  Archbishop  of  Tuam  to  Pope  Innocent  III., 
A.D.  1216:  "John  Papiron,  the  legate  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
coming  into  Ireland,  found  that  Dublin  indeed  had  a  bishop, 
but  such  a  one  as  did  exercise  his  episcopal  office  within  the 
walls  only,"  quoting  as  his  authority  the  Black  Book  of  Christ 
Church  and  the  Archbishop's  Register  or  Liber  Niger  Alani. 
Mr.  Mills  of  the  Irish  Record  Office,  who  has  lately  inspected 
the  Archbishop's  Records,  informs  me  that  the  original  Liber 
Niger  Alani  is  now  imperfect.  The  Archbishop  has  however 
a  transcript  of  it  when  perfect.  Another  perfect  copy  exists  in 
Marsh's  Library,  devoid,  however,  of  Alan's  own  valuable  mar- 
ginal notes.  It  was  made  under  Archbishop  Bulkely  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  II.,  and  presented  to  Marsh's  Library  by  his  heirs. 

•  See  Codex  Theodosianus,  ed.  Gothofred.,  lib.  xvi.,  tit.  viii.  ; 
t.  vi.,  pars,  i.,  p.  235  (Lips.  :  1743).  The  imperial  authorities 
strove,  in  the  fifth  century,  to  put  an  end  to  the  forum  domesti- 
cum  exercised  by  the  Jews  among  themselves,  but  failed.  It 
was  flourishing  in  London  in  the  twelfth  century.  See  Sweet- 
man's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  8,  No.  49. 

3  See  Aldis  and  Arnold's  Catholic  Dictionary,  art.  "  United 
Greeks." 


r8o  TRELAKD. 

Jerusalem  exercise  a  similar  authority,  not  over  districts, 
but  over  individuals  scattered  through  several  countries. 
The  Synod  of  Kells,  confining  its  attention  to  the  affairs 
of  the  Celtic  Church,  did  not  attempt  to  assign  a  terri- 
torial diocese  to  the  See  of  Dublin,  which  was  Danish 
and  in  communion  with  Canterbury,  but  simply  adopted 
the  arrangements  then  existing,  creating  the  holder  of 
the  bishopric  an  archbishop.1  The  fact  is  that  the 
bishopric  of  Glendalough  seems  to  have  been  the  one 
great  territorial  diocese  of  this  district  in  the  time  of  St. 
Laurence  O'Toole.  Bishop .  Reeves,  in  his  memoir  on 
the  diocese  of  Dublin,  has  shown  that  in  the  twelfth 
century  the  diocese  of  Glendalough  extended  from  the 
border  of  Meath  to  Wexford  Harbour,  and  from  Naas 
to  Lambay,  including,  of  course,  the  Danish  settlements, 
like  Baldoyle,  Dalkey,  and  Wicklow,  where  the  Dublin 
and  Danish  prelate,  of  course,  bore  sway.  But  the 
jurisdiction  exercised  seems  to  have  been  of  the  loosest 
character.  One  bishop  thought  no  more  of  intruding 
into  the  diocese  of  another  than  a  modern  dissenter 
thinks  of  intruding  into  the  jurisdiction  of  the  most 
orthodox  prelate.  Let  us  take  an  instance,  closely  con- 
nected with  ourselves  too.  I  have  several  times  referred 
to  the  foundation  of  the  Priory  of  All  Saints,  which 
preceded  the  modern  Elizabethan  foundation  of  Trinity 
College.  Let  me  now  give  you  a  more  detailed  account 
of  it,  as  it  will  illustrate  episcopal  affairs  and  Church 
life  in  the  time  of  St.  Laurence  O'Toole.  About  the 
year  1165  Dermot  MacMurrough  made  one  of  his 
numerous  raids  into  the  principality  of  Uriel,  including 
the  modern  Louth,  Armagh,  and  Monaghan.  Having 
obtained  considerable  success  and  committed  doubtless 

1  See    Keating's    History  of  Ireland,  ed.  O'Mahony,  pp. 
596-98. 


ST.   LAURENCE   ffTOOLE.  181 


some  very  gross  crimes,  he  was  seized  with  a  fit  of 
repentance,  which  induced  him  to  found  a  convent  for 
canons  on  the  spot  where  this  college  stands,  under  the 
title  of  the  Church,  Priory,  and  Canons  of  All  Hallows 
or  All  Saints.  This  church  he  endowed  with  an  exten- 
sive estate  at  Baldoyle,  conveying  by  his  charter,  which 
is  still  extant,  not  merely  the  lands  of  Baldoyle,  but  also 
the  serfs  or  slaves  resident  upon  them, — a  very  impor- 
tant statement  in  the  charter,  as  it  sheds  much  light  on 
the  social  state  of  Ireland  at  that  period,  and  proves  that 
serfdom  or  slavery  of  the  peasantry  prevailed  in  Ireland, 
that  was  free,  as  well  as  in  England,  that  was  subject 
to  the  Norman  yoke.  As  this  charter  given  by  Dermot 
MacMurrough  proves  his  own  scholarship  and  that  of 
his  scribes,  and  also  illustrates  our  social  state,  I  shall 
translate  for  you  in  full.  Its  title  is  :  "  Charter  of 
Dermot,  King  of  Leinster,  of  Baldoyle  and  its  men, 
made  to  All  Saints."  It  begins,  curiously  enough,  with 
the  exact  title  this  college  afterwards  received  and  still 
enjoys.  Could  there  have  been  anything  more  than  a 
chance  coincidence  therein  ?  "In  the  name  of  the  Holy 
and  Undivided  Trinity,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 
I,  Dermot,  King  of  the  Leinster  men,  for  the  love  of  God 
and  salvation  of  my  soul,  have  given  and  delivered  to  my 
spiritual  father  and  confessor  Edan,  Bishop  of  Louth, 
for  the  assistance  of  the  canons  of  the  Church  of  the 
daughter  of  Zola  and  their  successors,  a  certain  territory 
called  Baldoyle,  with  its  men  ;  to  wit,  Melisa  Mac- 
feilecan  with  his  sons  and  grandsons,  free  and  absolved 
from  procuration  and  expeditions  both  of  me  and  of  all 
succeeding  me  in  the  government  of  Leinster  and  of 
Dublin  in  perpetual  alms,  with  the  lawful  and  ancient 
bounds  and  all  things  pertaining  to  the  same  vill. 
Further,  I  command  and  firmly  order  to  all  Leinster  and 


1 82  IRELAND 


Dublin  men  present  and  future,  that  they  quietly  allow 
the  said  bishop  and  his  canons  and  their  successors 
serving  in  the  said  church,  to  have  and  to  hold  the  said 
land  for  ever  with  all  liberty,  without  any  exaction  of 
tithes,  in  peace  and  honour,  as  well  and  honourably  as 
any  other  college  of  canons  or  monks  in  Ireland,  and  that 
they  maintain  and  defend  from  all  injury  the  said  bishop 
and  church  with  all  its  men,  lands,  and  possessions." 
And  then  the  charter  is  duly  witnessed  as  follows  (the 
names  attached  are  of  great  interest)  : — "  And  in  order 
that  my  donation  may  remain  sure  and  firm  to  posterity 
I  have  signed  it  with  my  seal.  Witnesses,  Laurence, 
Archbishop  of  Dublin ;  Kinad,  Bishop,  and  Edenignus, 
Abbot,  of  Glendalough  ;  Enna,  my  son  ;  Felanus  Mac- 
feolanus ;  D.  MacGilla  Colmoc ;  G.  MacGunnar,  and 
many  others."1 

I  have  given  this  charter  thus  at  length  for  many 
reasons.  It  must  be  of  special  interest  for  ourselves 
to  look  back  and  see  a  document  which  dealt  with 
the  site  of  our  own  college  long  before  any  colleges 
existed  in  Oxford  or  Cambridge.  It  is  of  use  to 
us  from  a  historical  point  of  view,  because  it  compels 
us  to  recognise  that  before  the  English  conquest 
there  were  estates,  settled  estates,  and  tenantry,  and 
conveyances,  and  seals,  and  a  legal  phraseology  much 
the  same  as  a  conveyancing  lawyer  of  to-day  would 
use,  but  couched  in  much  better  Latin  than  he  could 
possibly  muster  if  he  were  to  try.  But  we  learn 
something  further  still  from  this  charter.  We  see 


1  See  Regist  ni  in  Priorat.  Own.  SS.,pp.  50,  125,  in  the  Irish 
Archaeological  series  ;  of.  Ware's  Bishops,  ed.  Harris,  t.  i. 
p.  1 80.  Enna  was  the  eldest  son  of  Dermot,  whom  Fitz-Patrick 
of  Ossory  blinded.  MacGilla  Colmoc  was  Enna's  son-in-law  ; 
cf.  p.  1 18,  note. 


ST.   LAURENCE   &TOOLE.  183 


somewhat  of  the  loose  diocesan  organisation  then 
prevalent ;  for  we  have  an  estate  conveyed  to  the 
Bishop  of  Louth1  in  Baldoyle,  which  probably,  as 
a  Danish  settlement,  was  subject  to  St.  Laurence 
as  archbishop  ;  and  the  same  charter  founds  a  college 
of  canons  on  the  strand  next  the  river  Liffey,  making 
the  same  Bishop  of  Louth  head  of  this  college,  and 
neither  the  Archbishop  nor  the  Bishop  of  Glendalough 
utters  a  word  of  protest  against  such  an  intrusion, 
but  rather  sign  the  charter  as  assenting  witnesses. 
The  Celtic  Archbishop  St.  Laurence  and  the  Bishop 
of  Glendalough  were  easy-going  prelates,  while  King 
Dermot,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  very  fierce  and  a 
very  headstrong  sovereign,  who  did  not  easily  tolerate 
any  interference  with  his  will.  Probably  they  looked 
at  the  matter  in  this  light.  The  charter  founded  a 
new  institution  indeed,  and  made  the  Bishop  of  Louth 
head  of  it ;  but  then  they  knew  he  would  die,  and  a 
new  prior  would  arise  who  would  not  be  a  bishop,  and 
so  they  let  the  matter  slide,  after  the  fashion  of  easy- 
going Irish  landlords  with  defaulting  tenants  of  later 
ages. 

But  fifteen  years  passed  away ;  the  Celtic  arch- 
bishop died  and  an  Anglo-Norman  bishop  came  in  his 
stead,  with  his  notions  of  canon  law  sharpened  and 
developed  in  the  University  of  Paris,  and  then  matters 
soon  changed.  Archbishop  John  Comyn  found  a  Celtic 
Bishop  of  I  outh  intruded  into  his  diocese  of  Dublin  and 

1  Edan  was  bishop,  riot  of  the  county  Louth,  but  of  the 
monastery  of  Louth  in  the  same  district.  Till  disestablish- 
ment the  parish  of  Louth  was  one  of  the  richest  in  the  Irish 
Church.  See  the  Index  to  O'Donovan's  edition  of  The 
Four  Masters  (under  the  word  "Lughmhagh")  for  lists  of 
the  bishops,  abbots,  and  anchorites  connected  with  this 
monastery. 


184  IRELAND. 

claiming  rights  of  which  the  canon  law  knew  nothing. 
He  determined  to  crush  the  intruder  and  terminate 
utterly  and  at  once  such  very  Hibernian  laxity.  Arch- 
bishop Comyn  had  full  power  to  do  so.  He  came 
armed  with  complete  papal  authority.  He  came,  too, 
the  trusted  friend  and  counsellor  of  King  Henry  II. 
and  of  King  Richard.  All  the  resources  of  the  Anglo- 
Norman  colony  lay  at  his  disposal,  and  poor  Bishop 
Edan  of  Louth  had  no  choice  but  to  obey ;  and  in  the 
same  Register  of  All  Saints  from  which  I  have  already 
quoted  you  can  read  his  act  of  surrender  of  all  in- 
dependent claims  and  his  consent  to  hold  the  priory 
in  subjection  to  the  Archbishop  and  his  Cathedral 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  duly  executed  in  the 
year  1181.  These  two  charters  of  1 1 66  and  1181  tell 
their  own  tale  of  Celtic  freedom  and  Celtic  laxity 
verging  upon  license  ;  of  Norman  rule  and  law  and 
strictness,  very  necessary  for  our  nation,  but  easily 
gliding  into  harsh  and  unloving  sternness  and  cruelty. 

Let  us  now  return  to  Laurence  O'Toole  and  his  life. 
The  ten  years  of  St.  Laurence's  life  prior  to  the  Eng- 
lish invasion  are  practically  blank.  He  was  a  great 
church-builder  in  Glendalough ; J  he  doubtless  con- 
tinued to  apply  himself  in  the  same  direction  in  Dublin. 


1  Cf.  "  Vita  S.  Laurentii ''  in  Surii  1'i'tce  SS.,  Nov.  14,  t.  v5., 
p.  334.  The  reading  of  this  passage  of  Surius  considerably 
modified  Dr.  Petrie's  views  with  respect  to  the  age  of  the 
ornamented  architecture  at  St.  Saviour's  Church,  Glenda- 
lough, as  he  originally  stated  it  in  his  treatise  on  the  Ecclesi- 
astical Architecture  of  Ireland,  p.  2^3,  Trans.  R.  1.  A., 
t.  xx.  ;  cf.  Petrie's  Life,  by  W.  Stokes,  M.D.,  p.  182,  St. 
Laurence's  restorations  accounted  for  the  phenomena  which 
at  first  puzzled  Petrie  and  led  him  to  ascribe  them  to  an 
earlier  date  :  an  interesting  illustration,  by  the  way,  of  how 
historical  investigation  serves  to  correct  professional 
theories. 


£>T.    LAURENCE   OTOOLE.  185 

Christ  Church,  or,  as  it  then  was  called,  the  Priory  or 
Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  was  developing  itself 
apace.  The  old  Irish  order  of  canons  held  it  hitherto. 
Like  everything  else  pertaining  to  the  Irish  Church,  it 
was  a  free  and  easy-going  establishment.  St.  Laurence 
heard  of  the  fame  of  the  reformed  Augustinian  order 
of  Aroasia  in  Flanders,  which  he  introduced  into 
Dublin,  turning  the  old  Irish  canons  into  monks  of 
this  order :  a  process  of  reformation  which  the  similar 
Cathedral  or  Convent  of  the  Holy  Trinity  at  Bristol 
underwent  at  the  same  time.  St.  Laurence  doubtless 
encouraged  the  outburst  of  church-building  which 
Dublin  experienced  just  before  the  Norman  invasion. 
When  Strongbow  and  Henry  II.  came  to  Dublin  they 
found  it  studded  with  churches.  To  this  day  the 
district  round  Christ  Church  Cathedral  is  thickly 
planted  with  churches,  which  were  much  more  numerous 
when  the  now  deserted  churches  of  St.  Nicholas, 
St.  John's,  St.  Michael's,  and  St.  Bride's  were  in  full 
operation.  But  we  must  add  to  these  many  others 
which  have  since  faded  from  memory,  though  flourish- 
ing in  St.  Laurence's  time.  The  Repertonuw  Viride, 
to  which  I  have  several  times  referred,  enables  us  to 
recover  their  names.  This  Repertorium  Viride  is  a 
wonderfully  full  and  interesting  account  of  this  diocese, 
drawn  up  by  Archbishop  Alan  in  the  year  1530. 
That  Archbishop  deserves  our  grateful  recollection. 
He  was  an  Englishman,  the  confidential  friend  and 
agent  of  Wolsey  at  the  Papal  Court.  He  came  here 
to  carry  out  and  assist  the  views  of  Wolsey  and  of 
Henry  VIII.  But.  he  was  not,  like  many  an  English 
Archbishop  of  Dublin  before  and  since,  \vlio  came  here 
simply  to  make  as  much  as  he  could  out  of  the  See,  and 
never  took  one  atom  of  interest  either  in  the  diocese, 


186  IRELAND. 

its  records,  or  its  antiquities.  Archbishop  Alan  took  the 
keenest,  liveliest  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  ancient 
church  which  had  raised  him  to  high  eminence,  and 
it  is  owing  to  the  manuscript  narratives  he  compiled 
and  transmitted  to  us — his  Register,  or  Liber  Niger 
Alani,  as  it  is  called,  and  his  Repertorium  Viride — that 
we  now  possess  authentic  Church  history  going  back 
to  the  times  of  Laurence  OToole.  His  Repertorium 
Viride,  or  Green  Repertory  (so  called  doubtless  from 
the  colour  of  the  cover),  used  to  be  preserved  in  Christ 
Church  Cathedral.  But,  like  a  great  many  other 
valuable  documents  which  ought  to  be  in  our  cathedrals, 
the  original  is  supposed  to  be  lost.1  There  are  two 
transcripts  of  it :  one  in  Trinity  College  Library,  and 
the  other  under  my  own  care  in  Primate  Marsh's 
Library.  In  it  we  have  an  exact  account  of  the 
churches  in  which  Laurence  O'Toole  ministered,  and 
some  of  which  he  may  have  helped  to  build.  There 
we  find  the  record  of  many  churches  whose  very 
names  and  sites  are  now  well-nigh  forgotten,  as 
St.  Olave's,  somewhere  near  the  foot  of  Fishamble 
Street;2  St.  George's  Church,  in  the  modern  South  Great 


1  Mr.  Mills  of  the  Record  Office  informs  me  that  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin  possesses  three  copies  of  the  Repertorium 
Viride,  one  of  which  may  be  the  original  which  the  Christ 
Church  Chapter  certified  to  the  Record  Commissioner  in  the 
beginning  of  this  century  they  possessed.  I  fear  very  much 
they  knew  nothing  about  it.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century 
our  chapters  had  touched  their  lowest  point.  Dignities  and 
offices  were  then  conferred  in  virtue  of  political  interest  with- 
out regard  either  to  religion  or  learning. 

-St.  Olave's  must  not  be  confounded  with  St.  Owen's  or 
Oudoen's.  In  the  narrative  of  a  tour  in  Ireland,  in  the  time 
of  Charles  J.,  published  in  the  second  and  third  volumes  of 
the  Christian  Examiner  (1826-27),  the  writer  mentions,  t.  ii., 
p.  219,  that  Archbishop  Ussher  when  in  Dublin  preached  every 
Sunday  morning,  at  8  a.m.,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Owen,  being  his 
native  parish.  This  tour  has  many  curious  details  of  Irish  life  at 


ST.    LAURENCE   O'TOOLE.  187 


George's  Street ;  St.  Stephen's  Church,  on  the  site  of 
Mercer's  Hospital ;  St.  Martin's  and  St.  Paul's  Churches, 
within  the  Castle  bounds ;  St.  Michael-le-Pole,  in  Ship 
Street.  All  these,  and  others  now  unknown,  were 
flourishing  in  the  days  of  Laurence  O'Toole. 

The  times  of  Strongbow  and  of  the  Fitz-Geralds  and 
of  Dermot  MacMurrough's  invasions  must  have  been 
trying  ones  for  the  Archbishop.1  He  is  said  to  have 
temporised,  to  have  encouraged  the  people  of  Dublin  to 
resist  Strongbow  and  his  allies  when  they  attacked  the 
city,  and  then  to  have  submitted  humbly  and  dutifully 
to  Henry  II.  And  yet  there  would  have  been  no  incon- 
sistency in  so  doing.  Let  us  strive  to  realize  how 
matters  then  stood  from  Laurence  O'Toole's  point  of 
view.  In  the  end  of  1170  Dublin  was  taken  by  King 
Dermot  and  Earl  Strongbow.  On  that  occasion  Arch- 
bishop Laurence  acted  as  mediator,  to  prevent  effusion 
of  blood.  He  recognised  the  broad  fact  that  King 
Dermot  was  lord  paramount  of  Dublin,  and  therefore 
used  his  sacred  office  to  arrange  terms  of  peace  between 
Dermot  the  king  and  his  men  of  Dublin.  The  next 
summer  King  Dermot  was  dead,  and  Roderic,  King  of 
Ireland,  proclaimed  a  general  crusade  to  drive  the 


that  period.  On  p.  219  of  the  volume  for  1826  we  have  a  descrip- 
tion of  Ussher's  studious  life  which  I  have  never  seen  quoted. 
"  Hee  doth  most  industriously  apply  his  studye,  which  hee 
hath  placed  at  a  good  distance  from  his  house  to  prevent  dis- 
traction and  diversion  by  the  access  of  any  companye  to  visit 
him,  who  are  not  admitted  to  disturb  his  studyes.  This  his 
course  and  order  is  so  publique,  as  that  few  come  to  him  att 
any  time  of  the  day  save  att  the  houres  of  relaxation,  which  is 
from  1 1  to  i  and  soe  about  supper  time.  The  rest  of  the  day 
from  5  in  the  morning  untill  6  in  the  evening  is  spent  ordinariely 
in  his  study."  I  retain  the  quaint  spelling. 

1  See  his  Life  in  Surius,  t.  vi.,  quoted  above.  This  Life  was 
written  by  a  man  who  was  practically  a  contemporary,  Ralph 
of  Bristol,  Bishop  of  Kildare. 


1 88  IRELAND. 

Welsh  and  Norman  invaders  out  of  Dublin.  Strong- 
bow  and  his  partisans  were  the  advance  guard  of  the 
English  invasion.  But  if  we  are  to  understand  history 
aright  we  must  throw  ourselves  back  into  the  age  we 
may  be  studying.  We  must  strive  to  realize  its  circum- 
stances, and  view  men  and  things  as  they  were  then 
viewed.  Now  to  Laurence  O'Toole,  or  to  any  Irishman 
of  that  age,  what  must  Strongbow  and  Fitz-Stephen 
and  Raymond  le  Gros 1  and  their  fellows  have  seemed  ? 
They  must  have  simply  been  regarded  on  the  same  foot- 
ing and  in  the  same  light  as  the  Danes.  They  must 
have  been  viewed  as  freebooters.  The  fear  of  the  Danes 
was  then  a  real  living  terror.  For  a  hundred  years 
later  a  regular  tax  was  paid  to  the  kings  of  Man,  a  kind 
of  black-mail,  to  secure  the  English  and  Irish  coasts 
from  plunder.  Why  even  to  the  present  time  the 
memory  and  fear  of  Danish  invasion  has  not  quite 
died  out  on  the  eastern  and  northern  coasts.  Dr. 
Reeves  tells  an  amusing  story  in  the  Ulster  Journal 
of  Archeology,  how  some  fifty  years  ago,  when  the 
Ordnance  Survey  of  Ireland  was  beginning,  a  party  of 
sappers  and  miners  landed  early  one  morning  on  a  small 
island,  near  Carlingford,  off  the  coast  of  Mourne  in  the 
county  Down.  This  was  of  old  a  favourite  station  for  the 
northern  invaders.  A  tremendous  panic  at  once  ensued 
as  the  report  was  spread  far  and  wide  that  the  Danes  had 
come  back  once  again  to  renew  their  old  work  of  blood 
and  fire  and  plunder.2  If  this  has  been  the  case  in  the 

1  I  have  already  pointed  out  (p.  98)  that  Raymond  le  Gros 
was  the  ancestor  of  the  family  of  Grace.     I  have  not  mentioned 
the  steps  by  which  the  transformation  of  names  was  effected. 
They  were  Le  Gros,  Le  Gras,  Grace.     He  was  a  Fitz-Gerald 
however,  being  son  of  William  Fitz-Gerald  and  grandson  of 
Nesta,  and  so  the  Graces  belong  to  the  Geraldine  faction. 

2  Ulster  Jour,  of  Archceology,  t.  ii.,  p.  45,  note  b.    Itinerary 
of  Father  E.  MacCana.     Edited  by  W.  Reeves,  D.D. 


ST.    LAURENCE    O'TOOLE.  189 


nineteenth  century,  how  lively  must  have  been  the 
terror  of  Danish  and  other  foreign  invasions  seven 
hundred  years  ago.  It  was  only  natural  then  that 
Laurence  O'Toole  should  have  urged  his  flock  to  active 
resistance  against  Strongbow  and  his  free-lances  as 
soon  as  King  Dermot  was  dead  and  the  acknowledged 
supreme  King  of  Ireland  had  taken  the  field  against  the 
invaders.  But  then  again,  when  Henry  II.  came  he  took 
good  care  to  come  fortified  with  ecclesiastical  authority. 
He  had  a  bull  from  a  pope.  He  summoned,  too,  a 
council  of  the  Irish  bishops  at  Cashel.  Thither  he  sent 
his  legate,  a  clever  Cistercian  abbot,  Ralph,  Abbot  of 
Buildewas  in  Shropshire,  who  managed  his  master's 
business  with  such  skill  that  St.  Laurence  must  have 
viewed  it  as  his  solemn  duty  as  an  obedient  subject  of 
Rome  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  King  Henry  II.1 
And  he  did  submit,  and  was  honoured  accordingly. 
We  can  trace,  in  Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Documents, 
the  attentions  that  were  paid  to  the  last  Celtic  archbishop. 
He  travelled  at  the  public  expense,  and  thus  introduced 
a  practice  which  lasted  to  modern  times.  Let  me  here 
interpose  a  few  words  of  explanation.  If  you  are 
reading  Primate  Boulter's  letters  written  in  the  last 
century,  you  will  get  a  wondrous  glimpse  into  the  inner 
life  of  Ireland  during  the  eighteenth  century,  both  in 
Church  and  State.  Or  if  you  take  up  the  autobiography 
of  Mrs.  Delany,  wife  of  Dr.  Daniel  Delany,  a  senior 
fellow  of  Trinity  College  and  Dean  of  Down,  you  will 
have  a  picture  of  the  last  century  from  behind  the  scenes 
which  will  help  to  explain  much  of  modern  history. 
Now  in  both  these  works  you  will  find  that  the  great 


1   Ralph  was  Abbot  from  1150 — -1187.     See  Eyton's  Antiqq. 
of  Shropshire,  vi.  317-35. 


IRELAND. 


ecclesiastics  of  that  day,  and  specially  the  Primates  of 
Armagh  and  Archbishops  of  Dublin,  always  travelled  at 
the  public  expense.  Whenever  an  influential  bishop  or 
dean  wanted  to  visit  England  he  always  requested  the 
use  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  yacht,  and  thus  saved  his 
fare.  This  custom  had  its  origin  in  the  earliest  days 
of  Norman  dominion  in  this  country.  Thus  the  very 
first  year  that  Henry  II.  reigned  in  Ireland  we  find 
in  the  public  accounts  for  1172-73,  as  given  in  Sweet- 
man's  Calendar,  that  Richard  de  Raelega  rendered  his 
bill  for  the  passage  of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  8s. 
He  travelled  to  the  General  Council  of  the  Lateran  in 
the  same  style.  In  the  year  1178-79  we  find  one 
official  rendering  his  accounts  for  the  passage  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Connaught  and  the  Irish  bishop  going 
to  the  Council,  355.  by  the  king's  writ.1  Another,  the 
Sheriff  of  Kent,  sends  in  his  bill  for  the  passage  of 
Laurence,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  Bricteus,  Bishop 
of  Limerick,  155. ;  while  again  the  poor  prelates  seem 
to  have  travelled  with  a  very  slender  banking  account, 
as  the  Sheriffs  of  London  and  Middlesex  send  in  their 
account  for  redeeming  the  pledges  of  the  Archbishop 


'The  Lateran  Council  of  1179  held  its  sessions  from 
March  5th  to  March  igth.  It  passed  many  useful 
disciplinary  canons,  some  of  which  are  still  in  force  in  the 
Church  of  England.  They  are  given  at  length  in  Hoveden's 
Chronica  (Rolls  Series),  t.  ii.,  pp.  171-89.  Hoveden  notes 
that  the  Irish  and  Scotch  bishops  applied  for  licence  before 
they  went  to  Rome,  and  swore  to  defend  the  king's  rights.  His 
words  are  (p.  1 7 1 )  :  "  Post  Natale  Domini  venerunt  de  Hybernia 
in  Angliam  Laurentius  Dublinensis,  et  Catholicus  Tuamensis, 
Archiepiscopi,  et  quinque  vel  sex  episcopi,  Romam  ad  con- 
cilium ituri.  Similiter  de  regno  Scotiai  transierunt  per 
Angliam  episcopi  et  Abbates  quam  plures.  Et  illi  omnes 
tam  de  Hybernia  quam  dc  Scotia  et  aliis  insulis,  per 
Angliam  transeuntes,  pro  licentia  transeundi  juraverunt, 
quod  neque  regi  neque  regno  ejus  damnum  quaererent." 


ST.    LAURENCE   ffTOOLE.  191 


of  Dublin,  305.,  and  for  the   Bishop  of  Limerick  ios., 
by  the  king's  writ.1 

St.     Laurence    not    merely    travelled    at    the    royal 
expense  as  archbishop,  he  also  gave  other  proofs  of  his 
allegiance  and  good  will  towards    the  Anglo-Norman 
conquerors.     He  assisted  at  a  Council  held  at  Windsor 
about  Michaelmas  1175,  when  a  treaty  was  concluded 
with  Roderic,  King  of  Connaught,  whereby  the  feudal 
supremacy  of  Henry   II.    was   acknowledged    by  that 
prince,  while  King   Henry,  on   the  other  hand,  guar- 
anteed   Roderic    in    his    hereditary    possessions.       St. 
Laurence    secured,    too,    the    possession    of   the   rich 
abbey  of  Glendalough,  once   held  by  himself    for  his 
nephew    Thomas.      You    can    still     see,    in     Chartce, 
Privilegia  et  Immunitatcs,  p.   I,  the  charter   by  which 
Strongbow  and  his  wife  Eva  made  over  to  their  first 
cousin,   as    this    Abbot    Thomas    was,    the    lands    and 
estates  pertaining  to  Glendalough,  all  of  which  were, 
by  a    subsequent    charter,   transferred    to   the    See    of 
Dublin  and   remained   part    of  the  endowment  of  the 
archbishops   till  the  Act  of  Disestablishment  deprived 
the  Irish  Church  of  its  ancient  landed  property.2 

I  have  referred  in  passing  to  the  Council  of  Cashel 
which  was  held  in  the  autumn  of  1172.  It  has  been 
a  much  contested  point  of  history ;  let  me  then  give  you 

1  See  Sweetman's  Calend.  of  Documents,  t.  i.,  nos.  40,  52, 

56,  57- 

-  See  Chartce,  Pnvilcgia  ct  Immunitates,  pp.  i,  4.  Rev. 
J.  O'Hanlon,  in  his  interesting  Life  of  St.  Laurence,  p.  36, 
strives  to  prove  that  Abbot  Thomas  was  not  St.  Laurence's 
nephew.  The  lands  of  Glendalough,  which  were  added  to  the 
endowment  of  the  See  of  Dublin,  carried  with  them  the  only 
trace  of  the  ancient  Celtic  institution  of  Corbes  and  Herenachs, 
which  survived  in  the  southern  districts  of  Ireland.  A  Corbe 
was  appointed  at  Glendalough  by  the  Archbishops  of  Dublin 
till  1476.  See  Ussher's  Works,  ed.  Elrington,  t.  xi.,  pp.  428, 
435- 


192  IRELAND. 

a  brief  account  of  it  drawn  from  original  sources,  and 
without  any  wish  to  decline  in  one  direction  or  in  the 
other  from  the  strict  line  of  historical  truth  and  accuracy. 
The  Council  of  Cashel  assembled  in  the  year  1172  by 
command  of  King  Henry  II.  At  it  there  attended, 
as  Papal  legate,  Christian,1  Bishop  of  Lismore,  toge- 
ther with  Donatus,  Archbishop  of  Cashel;  Laurence, 
of  Dublin  ;  and  Catholicus,  of  Tuam  :  the  Primate 
Gelasius  being  unable  to  attend  through  age  and  in- 
firmities. There  were  present,  in  addition,  the  majority 
of  the  Irish  bishops,  together  with  many  abbots,  arch- 
deacons, priors,  and  deans.  The  king  was  represented 
by  Ralph,  Abbot  of  Buildewas  in  Shropshire  ;  Ralph, 
Archdeacon  of  Brecknock  ;  Nicholas,  a  chaplain  ;  and 
other  chaplains  ;  while  the  decrees  of  the  council, 
when  signed  by  the  bishops,  were  confirmed  by  royal1 
authority,  so  that  the  King's  supremacy  was  then 
thoroughly  recognised  in  the  Irish  Church.  There 
were  eight  decrees  or  canons  made,  touching  the  follow- 
ing points.2  The  first  forbade  marriage  within  the 
degrees  of  consanguinity  prohibited  by  the  Roman 
canon  law.  The  second  ordered  that  children  be 
catechised  outside  the  church  doors,  and  infants 
baptized  at  the  fonts.  The  third  canon  ordered  the 
payment  of  tithes.  The  fourth  freed  all  ecclesiastical 
lands  from  secular  exactions.  The  fifth  forbade  the 
exaction  of  the  eric  or  composition  for  homicide  from 


1  Christian  was  a  Frenchman.  He  had  originally  been  a 
monk  of  Clairvaux.  About  1142  he  was  made  first  Abbot  of 
Mellifont  and  then  Bishop  of  Lismore.  See  Ussher's  Syllogc, 
epp.,  43,  44;  opp.,  t.  iv.,  pp.  539-42,  and  Colgan's  AA.,  SS. 
Hibernio',  p.  652,  under  March  i8th,  for  the  life  of  Christian. 

-  The  decrees  of  Cashel  will  be  found  in  Giraldus  Cambren- 
sis,  Expugnatio,  i.,  xxxiv.,  Bohn's  ed.,  p.  232  ;  or  in  Wilkins' 
Concilia. 


ST.   LAUKENCE   O'TOOLE.  193 

the  clerical  members  of  a  tribe  or  sept.  The  sixth 
dealt  with  testamentary  jurisdiction  and  rules.  The 
seventh  related  to  the  burial  of  the  dead,  concluding 
with  the  following  important  words  :  "  That  divine 
offices  shall  be  henceforth  celebrated  in  every  part 
of  Ireland  according  to  the  forms  and  usages  of  the 
Church  of  England.  For  it  is  right  and  just  that, 
as  by  Divine  Providence  Ireland  has  received  her  lord 
and  king  from  England,  she  should  also  submit  to 
a  reformation  from  the  same  source."  Many  misconcep- 
tions have  arisen  about  this  council.  Some  enthusiastic 
Protestants  have  thought  that  this  council  betrayed  the 
liberties  of  the  Irish  Church,  and  that  till  its  decrees 
were  passed  the  Irish  Church  had  been  totally  inde- 
pendent of  Rome.  This,  you  will  easily  see,  is  a 
mistake.  Whatever  else  this  council  may  have  done, 
it  did  not  say  a  word  about  Rome  or  the  Pope.  It 
recognises,  indeed,  the  canon  law  of  the  West,  and 
strives  to  conform  the  Irish  Church  thereto;  but  the 
same  attempt  had  been  made  one  hundred  years  earlier, 
when  Lanfranc  wrote  to  King  Turlogh  O'Brien  com- 
plaining of  the  matrimonial  irregularities  of  the  Celts.1 
Council  after  council,  synod  after  synod,  had  made 
similar  attempts  within  the  previous  century,  and  yet 
the  Irish  held  to  their  old  customs,  notwithstanding  the 
very  strong  language  used  by  the  Pope,  his  legates,  and 
his  supporters  among  the  Irish  bishops.  And  this 
Council  of  Cashel  was  not  much  more  successful,  on 
some  points  at  least.  Thus,  the  fourth  canon  ordered 
that  all  lands  and  possessions  of  the  Church  be  entirely 
free  from  all  exactions  of  secular  men,  and  especially 
that  neither  the  reguli  (princes)  nor  earls  or  other 

1  See  Ussher's  Sylloge,  opp.,  ed.  Elrington,  t.  iv.,  p.  492. 

13 


194  IRELAND. 


great    men    in    Ireland,    nor    their    sons,    nor   any    of 
their  household,  shall    exact    provisions    and    lodgings 
on  any  ecclesiastical  territories,  as  the  custom  is,  nor 
under   any    pretence    presume   to    plunder    by   violent 
means;  and  that  "the  detestable    practice  of  extorting 
food  four  times    a   year    from    the    vills    belonging    to 
the  churches    by  neighbouring  lords,  shall  henceforth 
be    utterly    abolished."      This    canon    relates    to    the 
right  claimed    by  the  Irish  chieftains    of  entering    by 
force    upon    ecclesiastical    property,    and    living    there 
at    free    quarters    four    times    a    year ;    a  right  which, 
notwithstanding  this  canon  of  Cashel,  they  continued 
to    exercise    down    to    the    reign    of  Queen   Elizabeth. 
Thus,   in    a    letter    written    from    Athlone    by   Sir    H. 
Wallop,  the  President  of  Connaught,  in   1581,  he  tells 
how,  on  the  2Oth  January,  Mr.  Thomas  Le  Strange  had 
killed  nineteen  of  the  O'Melaghlins  in  a  church  seven 
miles  from  Athlone, — "All  notorious  thieves,  and  con- 
sorts of  the  O'Conors,  ///  ivhich  place  they  were  taking 
meat,  as  they  term  it  ; "  or,  in  other  words,  they  were 
exacting  the  vile  custom  reprobated  by  the  Synod  of 
Cashel  more  than  four  hundred  years  before — so  little 
were    the    Celts    inclined    to    surrender    their    ancient 
national  customs  at   the  dictation  of  any  ecclesiastical 
body  whatsoever.1     So  much  for  the  Council  of  Cashel. 
Let  us  return  from  this  digression. 

St.  Laurence  O'Toole  was  closely  connected  with 
Christ  Church,  or  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  as  it 
should  more  properly  be  called.  He  lived  as  a  bishop 
should  live,  beside  his  cathedral.  Me  is  said  to  have 
enlarged  and  beautified  it.  He  certainly  was  eminently 
devout,  as  we  are  told  in  his  Life,  which  appeared  while 


CaUndar  of  .^tate  Papers,  1574 — 1585,  p.  282. 


ST.   LAURENCE   OTOOLE.  195 

many  were  living  who  personally  had  known  the  Arch- 
bishop, that  "  he  used  to  spend  whole  nights  in  the 
church  prostrate  before  a  crucifix,  while  before  the 
morning's  dawn  he  went  forth  into  the  cemetery 
adjoining  the  church  to  offer  his  prayer  for  the  departed 
members  of  Christ's  flock."  He  loved  Glendalough, 
too,  though  it  was  apparently  lapsing  by  degrees  into 
an  increasing  barbarism,  being  infested  by  robbers  who 
respected  neither  ecclesiastic  nor  layman,  and  even 
dared  to  mock  and  imitate  the  solemn  ritual  of  excom- 
munication. Notwithstanding  the  wild  character  of  the 
inhabitants,  St.  Laurence  delighted  from  time  to  time  to 
retreat  to  the  scenes  of  his  youth,  where  he  was  wont 
to  occupy  that  well-known  and  lofty  spot,  St.  Kevin's 
bed,  spending  his  time  in  meditation  and  prayer.1  The 
Dublin  cathedral  of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  dear  to  him  ; 
there  is  a  chapel  still  used  in  the  cathedral  called  after 
him,  St.  Laurence  O'Toole's  Chapel,  and  we  owe  much 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  state  and  history  of  the 
cathedral  prior  to  the  English  invasion  to  a  charter 
granted  to  the  cathedral  by  the  same  Archbishop. 
That  ancient  document,  preserved  in  the  Christ  Church 
archives,  will  be  found  printed  in  Chartcc,  Pnvilegia  et 
Immunitates,  p.  2,  while  an  inspeximus  of  it,  by  King 
John,  is  printed  in  the  same  valuable  work,  p.  12.- 
From  these  documents  we  learn  that  the  site  of  Christ 
Church  was  given  by  Sitric,  Danish  Earl  of  Dublin  ; 
that  it  was  largely  endowed  by  the  MacTurkils,  a 


'St.  Laurence's  Life  in  Surii,  Vit.  SS,,  t.  vi.,  Nov.  14, 
cap.  xxv.  ;  O'Hanlonrs  Life,  p.  68. 

•  An  inspeximus,  as  the  word  implies,  was  a  recital  of  an 
ancient  grant  in  a  later  charter  or  document.  In  this  manner 
the  terms  of  many  documents,  the  originals  of  which  have 
perished,  have  been  handed  down  to  our  time. 


196  IRELAND. 


Danish  family,  which,  as  I  have  shown  in  a  previous 
lecture,  long  possessed  great  estates  in  the  north  of 
the  county,  and  whose  descendants,  so  late  as  the  last 
century,  were  still  in  existence ;  to  whom  must  be  added 
the  Brodars,  the  O'Briens,  and  many  others  whose 
names  can  scarcely  be  recognised  in  King  John's 
version.  St.  Laurence's  own  charter  is  intensely 
interesting.  It  dates  from  about  1178,  and  must  have 
been  issued  soon  after  the  change  of  the  canons  into 
monks  of  the  reformed  Augustinian  order.1  Probably 
the  change  in  the  organisation  caused  the  issue  of  the 
charter,  so  as  to  secure  the  due  and  legal  devolution 
of  the  conventual  property.  The  charter  sets  out  the 
churches  and  estates  pertaining  to  the  cathedral, 
enumerating  those  we  have  ourselves  known  as 
Prebendal  parishes,  St.  Michan's  and  St.  John's.  It 
mentions  the  church  of  St.  Bridget  as  belonging  to 
this  cathedral,  though  afterwards  transferred  to  St. 
Patrick's,  and  then  gives  a  long  list  of  churches  in  the 
north  of  the  county,  in  Fingal  and  its  neighbourhood, 
attached  to  the  cathedral,  concluding  with  the  names 
of  clerical  witnesses,  where  we  find  Celtic,  Danish, 
and  Anglo-Norman  clerics  side  by  side.  We  have  first 
four  bishops,  three  at  least  of  whom  are  Celts  ;  then 
come  five  abbots,  headed  by  Laurence's  own  nephew, 
Thomas  of  Glendalough,  who  is  followed  by  Ralph 
of  Buildewas,  and  Adam  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey.  Then 
comes  Torquil,  evidently  a  Dane,  who  is  Archdeacon 
of  Dublin,  to  whom  succeeds  the  earliest  list  of  Dublin 


1  The  change  of  secular  canons  into  regulars  was  fashionable 
in  England  too  at  this  epoch,  though  a  reaction  soon  began.  See 
Lect.  XL,  pp.  270-72,  below;  William  of  Newburgh,  Ilistoria 
Rer.  Anglic.,  iv.,  36,  in  Chronn.  of  Stephen  (Rolls  Series),  i., 
393  ;  Stubbs's  preface,  EpistL  Cantuar.  (Rolls  Series). 


ST.   LAURENCE   O TO  OLE.  197 


clergy  we  possess.  They  are  evidently  a  mixed  body, 
as  their  names  show:  Joseph,  Presbyter  of  St.  Brigid's; 
Godmund,  Presbyter  of  St.  Mary's  ;  Edan,  Presbyter 
of  St.  Patrick's ;  Cenninus,  Presbyter  of  St.  Michael's  ; 
Peter,  Presbyter  of  St.  Michan's ;  Richard,  Presbyter 
of  St.  Columba's  ;  Gillebert,  Presbyter  of  St.  Martin's, 
"  et  ceteris  omnibus  aliis  Presbyteris  Dublinii."  The 
clerical  signatures  are  then  followed  by  the  laymen,  at 
the  head  of  whom  stands  Hugo  de  Lacy,  "  Consta- 
bularius  Dublinii." 

I  have  called  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
Celt,  Norman,  and  Dane  were  thus  ministering  side 
by  side.  This  is  a  most  important  fact  to  notice,  as  it 
shows  conclusively  that  the  Anglo-Normans  made  no 
clean  sweep  of  the  Celtic  clergy,  they  retained  the 
old  organisation ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  English 
fashions  in  Divine  worship  were  adopted  by  the  ancient 
Celtic  and  Danish  clergy.  And  now  you  may  ask  me 
what  kind  of  worship  was  celebrated  in  Christ  Church 
Cathedral  by  Laurence  O'Toole.  The  answer  is  easy 
enough.  The  Synod  of  Cashel  ordered  the  example  of 
the  English  Church  to  be  followed  in  Divine  worship. 
The  English  ritual,  the  order  of  Sarum,  was  then 
introduced,  and  followed  till  the  Reformation ;  after 
which  the  same  Sarum  Use — the  same  in  substance, 
only  translated  into  English — continues  to  be  used  to 
this  day.  Probably  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
Dublin,  was  the  first  church  in  Ireland  where  the 
Sarum  Use  was  officially  adopted,  just  as  the  same 
church  first  saw  the  English  Litany  used  under  the 
direction  and  order  of  Archbishop  Brown  in  the  days 
of  Henry  VIII.  But  I  am  sure  that  if  some  among 
us  could  have  seen  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Trinity 
in  the  days  of  Laurence  O'Toole,  it  would  have  cooled 


198  IRELAND. 


their  zeal  and  love  for  the  Celtic  Church  of  the  twelfth 
century.  We  have  heard  in  our  own  time  a  great  outcry 
about  a  screen  in  Christ  Church  and  a  representation 
of  the  Crucifixion  in  stained  glass.  I  am  somewhat 
afraid  that  the  party  who  raised  this  cry,  if  they  had 
their  will,  would  abolish  all  cathedrals.  They  some- 
times talk  in  laudatory  language  of  the  ancient  Celtic 
Church  and  its  arrangements,  but  had  they  gone  into 
Christ  Church  seven  hundred  years  ago  they  would 
have  found  much  more  to  vex  their  souls  than  a 
screen  and  stained  glass.  In  that  cathedral  was  kept 
the  miraculous  staff  of  Jesus,  which  the  English  took 
away  from  Armagh.  There,  too,  a  miraculous  crucifix 
was  preserved,  about  which  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
tells  some  wonderful  stories  in  his  Topography.  It 
was  not  introduced  by  the  English.  It  stood  in 
the  cathedral  in  the  years  of  independence,  and 
Giraldus  tells  many  marvellous  tales  of  its  perform- 
ances even  then ;  how,  for  instance,  it  spoke  when 
solemnly  adjured  in  a  mercantile  trial,  how  it  became 
immovable  when  the  Danish  citizens  desired  to  carry 
it  off  upon  the  conquest  of  Dublin  by  Strongbow, 
and  how  a  penny  sacrilegiously  obtained  thrice 
leaped  back  when  offered  before  this  wonder-working 
crucifix.1 

Such  was  life  and  such  was  worship  in  the  time  of 
St.  Laurence  O'Toole.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
thoroughly  saintly  and  devout  man.  His  lot,  how- 
ever, was  cast  in  evil  times,  when  men  of  action  made 
more  noise  and  exercised  more  influence  than  men  of 
meditative  piety.  Statesmen,  and  not  saints,  were 


1  See    Giraldus    Cambrensis,    Tomograph.    Hib.,    Dist.    ii., 
cap.  xliv.-xlvi. 


ST.   LAURENCE    O'J'OOLE.  199 


needed  in  high  places  then ;  and  statesmen,  and  not 
saints,  the  Anglo-Norman  kings  of  England  provided 
as  Archbishops  of  Dublin,  as  I  shall  show  in  my 
next  lecture  on  Archbishop  Comyn  and  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral.1 


'  See  my  former  volume,  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church , 
ch.  xvi.,  for  more  about  St.  Laurence  O'Toole  ;  and  also  Ussher's 
Sylloge,  ofip.,  t.  iv.,  p.  553  ;  Annals  of  Four  Masters,  ed. 
J.  O'Donovan,  note  to  A.D.  1180.  It  may  interest  some 
travellers  in  Ireland  to  know  that  a  cross  in  former  times 
reputed  miraculous,  just  like  that  of  which  I  have  spoken 
above,  was  found  no  later  than  last  year  (1888),  built  up  into 
the  wall  of  the  chancel  of  Raphoe  Cathedral,  which  is  said  to 
have  been  founded  by  St.  Adamnan.  It  used  to  be  called 
before  the  Reformation  St.  Adamnan's  Cross,  and  must  have 
been  so  treated  about  the  time  of  the  regal  visitation  of 
King  James  I.,  when  the  cathedral  was  repaired.  The 
remains  of  Adamnan's  Cross — for  it  crumbled  into  pieces 
when  exposed  to  the  air — are  now  carefully  preserved  by  the 
vicar  of  the  parish,  the  Rev.  R.  Bennett,  A.M.,  who  is  making 
a  bold  effort  to  restore  his  ancient  church  in  a  style  worthy  of 
the  memory  of  one  of  Ireland's  noblest  sons. 


LECTURE    IX. 

JOHN  COMYN  AND  THE  ANGLO-NORMAN 
ARCHBISHOPS  OF  DUBLIN. 

THE  mediaeval  English  Church  was  essentially  a 
royal  one.  The  royal  supremacy  was  then 
acknowledged  as  fully  and  completely  as  ever  under 
the  Tudors.  The  monarchs  used  the  organization 
of  the  Church  for  all  the  purposes  of  statecraft ;  its 
higher  officers  were  checks  and  spies  upon  popular 
movements,  while  its  ablest  bishops,  neglecting  their 
spiritual  offices,  were  wholly  withdrawn  to  the  affairs 
of  temporal  administration.  The  episcopate  was 
thoroughly  secularised  under  Henry  II.,  and  as  the 
natural  result  the  character  of  the  bishops  became 
sorely  deteriorated.  The  pious  mediaeval  and  monkish 
chroniclers  lament  over  this  fact.  They  tell  sad  tales 
of  the  bishops  of  their  time.  William  of  Newburgh 
was  a  monk  of  northern  England  who  lived  through 
the  long  reign  of  Henry  II.,  leaving  us  a  chronicle, 
the  Historia  Rcrnni  Anglicanini,  which  is  most  impor- 
tant for  the  history  of  that  obscure  period,  and  as 
such  has  been  printed  among  the  Chronicles  of  Stephen 
and  Henry  II.  in  the  Rolls  Series.  He  draws  a  very 
dark  picture  indeed  of  the  bishops  of  his  time,  and 
tells  us  that  Henry  II.  had  much  the  same  opinion 
of  them.  That  monarch  was  a  keen  observer  of 
character,  and  he  saw  very  clearly  the  insincere  and 


JOHN  COMYN. 


worldly  motives  which  guided  the  men  whose  abilities 
he  used.  William  of  Newburgh  in  his  History  (iii.,  26) 
tells  us  that  King  Henry  justified  himself  in  keeping 
sees  vacant  and  appropriating  their  revenues  to  the 
purposes  of  state  on  this  ground,  "  that  it  was  much 
better  that  the  money  should  be  spent  on  the  necessary 
business  of  the  kingdom  than  consumed  in  episcopal 
gluttony  ;  because  the  bishops  are  no  longer  like  the 
ancients,  but  remiss  and  languid  in  their  duty,  and  have 
become  entirely  immersed  in  the  world."  The  descrip- 
tion given  us  by  the  same  pious  and  unsophisticated  monk 
of  some  of  the  bishops  of  his  time — of  Longchamps,  for 
instance,  Bishop  of  Ely,  Justiciary  of  England,  and  Papal 
Legate  under  Richard  I. ;  of  Hugh  de  Puiset,  Bishop  of 
Durham  ;  and  above  all,  of  Wimund,  Bishop  of  Man — 
amply  confirms  his  testimony.1  The  account  given  us 
of  Wimund  reads  more  like  a  romance  than  a  sober 
historical  narrative.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  that  such  a 
prelate  could  have  existed,  only  seven  centuries  ago,  in 
our  own  immediate  neighbourhood.  Some  of  the  Celtic 
bishops  of  Ireland,  even  of  later  times,  were  bad  enough, 
as  we  shall  hereafter  notice,  but  none  of  them  were  quite 
as  wicked  and  depraved  as  this  Bishop  of  Man.  Let  us 
hear  the  story,  and  then  we  shall  not  be  much  astonished 
at  any  other  tales  of  episcopal  misdeeds  which  may 
come  across  our  path. 

Wimund  was  originally  a  poor  boy — a  peasant's  child, 

1  See  as  concerning  Longchamps,  Bishop  of  Ely,  the  Historia 
Reriim  Anglicarum  in  the  Chronicles  of  Stephen,  Henry  II., 
and  Richard  I.  (Rolls  Series),  ed.  by  R.  Hewlett,  pp.  300 — 490  ; 
concerning  Hugh  de  Puiset,  pp.  78,  503,  304,  436-41  ;  con- 
cerning Wimund,  pp.  72-6.  In  lib.  v.,  cap.  31,  of  the  Historia 
Rcr.  Anglic,  there  is  a  curious  story  of  a  warlike  Bishop  of 
Beauvais  captured  at  the  head  of  his  army  by  Richard  1.  in 
1197. 


202  IRELAND. 

in  fact ;  and  was  educated  as  a  chorister  in  Furness 
Abbey,  a  celebrated  foundation  on  Morecambe  Bay, 
whose  ruins  testify  to  its  ancient  greatness,  and  even  still 
discharge  a  useful  function  in  furnishing  one  of  the 
great  playgrounds  for  northern  Lancashire.  We  have 
not  as  yet  sufficiently  recognised  the  important  educa- 
tional functions  fulfilled  by  the  abbeys  of  England  and 
Ireland  alike.  The  universities  of  England  do  not  now 
supply  much  more  than  half  the  candidates  for  holy 
orders  ;  the  theological  colleges  make  up  the  balance. 
In  mediaeval  times  the  abbeys  were  the  theological 
colleges  of  that  period,  and  as  such  discharged  a  most 
beneficial  office  in  affording  room  for  the  exercise  of  local 
talent.  Many  an  intellectual  flower  would  have  been 
born  to  blush  unseen  had  it  not  been  for  the  abbeys 
of  mediaeval  England  ;  just  as  the  Church  of  England 
has  since  the  Reformation  lost  many  a  noble  soul 
because  the  most  expensive  universities  in  Christendom 
have  been  the  sole  recognised  channels  of  entrance  upon 
her  ministry.  A  Bede,  an  Alcuin,  a  Roger  of  Hoveden, 
a  William  of  Newburgh,  gained  in  the  abbeys  a  wide 
intellectual  training  enabling  them  to  transmit  to  pos- 
terity works  of  the  greatest  value;  while  as  the  tares 
ever  grow  among  the  wheat,  so  too  men  like  Wimund 
gained  in  the  same  monasteries  an  intellectual  training 
fitting  them  for  an  eminence  of  evil  to  which  they 
otherwise  could  never  have  attained.  Wimund  in  due 
course  took  holy  orders  ;  wherein  he  displayed  such  a 
keen  intellect,  such  an  unfailing  memory,  and  such  a 
ready  eloquence,  that  in  the  earlier  half  of  the  twelfth 
century  he  was  sent  upon  a  mission  to  the  Isle  of  Man( 
which  lies  within  sight  of  Furness.  He  proved  so 
pleasing  to  the  barbarous  inhabitants,  half  Scandinavian 
and  half  Celtic,  his  person  being  tall  and  athletic  and 


JOHN  COMYN.  203 


his  conduct  free,  jovial,  and  easy-going,  that  clergy  and 
people  united  in  electing  him  their  bishop.  The  Manx 
Church  seems  in  fact  to  have  chosen  its  bishop  on  the 
same  principle  as  that  on  which  Saul  was  elected  King  of 
Israel, —  because  the  candidate  was  head  and  shoulders 
taller  than  all  the  people.1  Wimund  soon  revealed 
his  true  character.  He  was  not  contented  with  the 
episcopal  office,  but  desired  to  emulate  the  Irish  bishop- 
kings  of  Cashel,  who  were  equal  adepts  with  the 
weapons  of  temporal  and  of  spiritual  warfare.2  He  laid 
claims  to  the  earldom  of  Moray,  denying  his  real  birth 
and  asserting  that  he  was  the  earl's  son  ;  and  ravaged 
south-western  Scotland  with  fire  and  sword.  He 
married  the  daughter  of  the  Thane  of  Argyle,  and  with 
his  help  brought  the  King  of  the  Scots  so  low  that  he 
was  fain  to  surrender  to  Wimund  the  southern  portion 
of  his  kingdom,  which  then  extended  to  Furness  and  the 
shores  of  Morecambe  Bay.  Success  was  fatal  to  him  as 
to  many  another  upstart  pretender.  He  treated  the 
monastery  of  Furness,  which  had  been  his  earliest 
friend,  with  special  severity,  and  ruthlessly  plundered  its 
tenantry.  They  were  Celts,  and  possessed  all  the  Celtic 
hatred  of  an  oppressive  landlord.  The  country  people 
watched  their  opportunity,  waylaid  him  when  his 
escort  was  few  in  number,  overpowered  them,  seized 


1  The  original  Latin  of  William  of  Newburgh,  Hist.  Rcr. 
Anglic.,  lib.  i.,  cap.  xxiv.,  is  very  telling.  "  Deinde  apud 
Furnesium  tonsoratus  et  regularem  vitam  professus,  cum 
nactus  esset  scripturarum  copiam  cum  otio  competenti,  ad- 
jutus  triplici  bono,  scilicet  acri  ingenio,  illabili  memoria,  apto 
eloquio,  ita  in  brevi  profecit,  ut  magnoe  spei  esse  videretur. 
Evolutis  diebus  in  insulam  Man  cum  fratribus  missus,  suavitate 
eloquii  et  jocunditate  faciei,  cum  esset  etiam  producto  et 
robusto  corpore,  ita  barbaris  placuit  ut  ab  eis  in  episcopum 
peteretur,  et  eorum  quidem  completum  est  desiderium." 

-  See  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  p.  268. 


204  IRELAND. 

the  piratical  bishop,  blinded  and  otherwise  mutilated 
him,  incarcerating  him  as  a  monk  in  the  inland  mon- 
astery of  Byland,  where  William  of  Newburgh  heard 
his  romantic  story  from  Wimund's  own  lips.1  His 
monastic  seclusion  does  not  indeed  seem  to  have 
worked  a  very  deep  repentance  in  the  man,  as  the 
chronicler  tells  of  Wimund's  boast  that  if  he  could 
only  recover  his  sight  he  would  even  still  avenge  his 
injuries  sevenfold  upon  all  his  enemies.  The  episcopal 
character  must  have  sunk  very  low  when  such  a  career 
could  have  been  possible  for  a  Bishop  of  Sodor  and 
Man. 

These  general  reflections  upon  episcopacy  in  the 
twelfth  century  will  pave  the  way  for  the  history  of 
the  first  Anglo-Norman  Archbishop  of  Dublin.  They 
may  seem  at  first  sight  derogatory  to  the  system  of 
Church  government  which  \ve  maintain  and  support ; 
but,  from  another  point  of  view,  they  may  be  regarded 
as  an  evidence  of  its  Divine  nature  and  authority,  for 
surely  no  system  that  was  not  of  God  could  have 
survived  the  wickedness  of  those  who  exercised  it. 
At  any  rate  this  story  will  help  you  to  understand  the 
circumstances  amid  which  John  Comyn's  lot  was  cast 
and  his  work  was  done. 


1  "  Cum  autem  per  subditam  provinciam  tanquam  rex  val- 
lante  exercitu  gioriose  ferretur,  ipsique  monasterio,  cujus 
monachus  fuerat,  supra  modum  gravis  exsisteret,  de  consensu 
nobilium  insidiati  sunt  ei  quidam  provinciales,  qui  ejus  vel 
potentiam  vel  insolentiam  exosam  habebant.  Nactique  tern- 
pus  opportunum,  cum  praemissam  ad  hospitium  multitudinem 
lento  pede  et  raro  stipatus  satellite  sequeretur,  comprehensum 
vinxerunt,  utrumque  illi  oculum,  quia  uterque  nequam  erat, 
eruerunt,  causamque  virulent!  germ  in  is  amputantes,  eum 
pro  pace  regni  Scottorum,  non  propter  regnum  coelorum, 
castraverunt." — Hist.  Rer.  Anglic.,  i.,  24,  in  Chronicles  of 
Stephen,  Henry  II.,  t.  i.,  p.  75  (Rolls  Series). 


JOHN  COMYN.  205 


St.  Laurence  O'Toole  died  on  November  I4th,  1180. 
Episcopal  vacancies  were  not  very  quickly  rilled  up  by 
the  Norman  sovereigns,  as  they  claimed  the  profits  and 
rents  arising  from  the  estates  attached  to  vacant  Sees. 
The  longer,  therefore,  they  were  kept  unfilled,  the  more 
money  accrued  to  the  sovereign.  The  See  of  Dublin 
was  not  as  yet,  however,  profitable  enough  to  be  long 
kept  vacant.  When  its  estates  were  enlarged,  then  we 
shall  find  that  years  might  elapse  before  the  English 
sovereigns  would  permit  the  election  of  a  new  arch- 
bishop. One  point,  however,  Henry  II.  had  already 
determined,  and  that  was,  no  Irishman  should  again 
be  Archbishop  of  Dublin  ;  and  his  determination  and 
example  were  followed,  with  a  very  few  exceptions, 
down  to  the  present  century.  There  were  twenty-three 
archbishops  from  the  time  of  St.  Laurence  to  the 
Reformation.  Not  one  of  these  was  an  Irishman. 
One  or  two  of  them,  like  Archbishop  Fitzsimons,  from 
1484  to  1511,  may  possibly  have  been  born  in  Ireland, 
though  even  this  is  dubious,  or  at  any  rate  were 
beneficed  there  prior  to  their  elevation.  But  not  one 
of  them  was  otherwise  than  of  pure  English  blood  and 
extraction  ;  a  policy  which  was  pursued  down  to  the 
present  century.1  This  was  certainly  most  injurious  to 
the  spiritual  interests  of  an  important  portion  of  the 
Church.  I  have  often  been  surprised  at  the  same  time 
to  see  how  exactly  this  precedent,  with  all  its  unfortunate 

1  From  the  Reformation  to  the  Disestablishment  there  were 
twenty-three  Archbishops  of  Dublin.  Of  these,  seven  alone 
were  men  of  nominal  Irish  birth.  Their  names  and  dates 
were:  Michael  Boyle,  1663-78;  John  Parker,  1678-81;  Wil- 
liam King,  1703-29;  Arthur  Smyth,  1766-72;  Charles  Agar, 
1801-09;  J.  G.  Beresford,  1820-22  ;  William  Magee,  1822-31  ; 
and  R.  C.  Trench,  1863-84.  The  connection  of  several  of 
these  with  Ireland  and  the  Irish  Church  was  merely  nominal, 
just  sufficient  to  give  a  colour  to  the  appointment. 


206  IRELAND. 


results,  is  now  followed  by  our  colonists,  who  almost 
always  send  home  for  bishops  for  all  their  leading  Sees. 
In  Ireland  in  ancient  times,  in  our  colonies  nowadays, 
this  policy  produced  and  produces  the  same  result. 
Men  are  imported  who  are  ignorant  of  the  country,  and 
whose  interests  all  lie  in  another  sphere.  Such  a 
course  of  action  demoralises  and  degrades  the  local 
clergy.  They  feel  themselves  cut  off  from  all  prospect 
of  attaining  those  higher  rewards  which  lend  a  stimulus 
to  hope  and  action,  and  as  the  natural  result  really 
first-class  men  avoid  a  field  which  implies  and  carries 
with  it  a  stigma  and  a  professional  degradation.  If  I 
were  a  colonial  Churchman  I  would  prefer  an  inferior 
local  man  to  a  superior  stranger,  satisfied  that  though 
I  might  suffer  a  little  at  present,  in  the  long  run  I  was 
conferring  a  permanent  benefit  on  my  own  Church  by 
helping  to  raise  its  clerical  tone  and  standard.  A  regi- 
ment which  always  imports  its  commanding  officers 
from  a  strange  corps  will  never  develop  courage, 
enterprise,  or  daring  among  its  subordinates. 

Let  us  return  to  the  new  Archbishop  of  Dublin. 
In  September  1181 — that  is,  ten  months  after  St. 
Laurence's  death — Henry  II.  issued  his  royal  licence 
for  election,  and  summoned  the  Chapter  of  the  Convent 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  to  perform  their  duty  of  election 
at  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  Evesham  in  Worcester- 
shire, where  through  royal  influence  they  selected  a 
monk  of  that  abbey,  John  Comyn,  to  fill  the  vacant 
episcopal  office.  He  was  only  a  deacon  at  the  time,  but 
had  had  large  experience  in  State  affairs,  and  had  made 
himself  very  useful  to  the  government  of  the  time. 

The  story  of  John  Comyn  is  indeed  a  most  interesting 
illustration  of  Norman  ideas  about  Church  administra- 
tion. He  was  but  a  deacon  when  chosen,  or  rather 


JOHN  COMYN.  207 

nominated,    for    the    high    and    important    position    of 
archbishop — for  the  election  was  simply  a  farce.     The 
kings    of   that   period   exercised    a   far  more  extended 
influence   upon  episcopal  elections  than  they  do  now. 
The  kings,  or  else  their  chief  justices,  presided  at  epis- 
copal elections,   and    thus   terrorised  the   bishops   and 
chapters  into  choosing  the  royal  nominees.     Dean  Hook 
tells  us,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury, 
chap,    ii.,  p.    387,    that    Henry    II.'s    chief   justiciary, 
Richard   de  Luci,   presided  at  the  election  of  Becket, 
and   compelled   the  reluctant  prelates,  who   knew    the 
man  and  his  disposition  right  well,  to  elect  the  king's 
chancellor   Primate    of   Canterbury.     Becket's   election 
offers  an   illustration   of  John   Comyn's.     Becket,  like 
Comyn,   was   but  a   deacon    when    chosen  archbishop. 
Gilbert   Foliot,   Bishop  of   Hereford,    one    of    Becket's 
subsequent  opponents,  wittily  remarked  thereupon  that 
the  king  had   worked  a  miracle,   for  he  had  made  an 
archbishop  out   of  a    soldier ;    so    little    was    Becket's 
previous  life  in  keeping   with  the  episcopal  character. 
John  Comyn,  the  new  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  was  just 
the  same.     In  early  life  he  had  taken  clerical  orders  in 
the  lowest  degree.     This  step  clothed  him  with  privi- 
leges   of  the    most   valuable    kind,    but    demanded    no 
special  restrictions  and  entailed  no  spiritual  wrork.     He 
became  a  statesman  pure  and  simple,  with  a  dash  of 
the  lawyer  combined.     Comyn  was  King  Henry's  most 
thorough-going  supporter  all  through  his  quarrel  with 
Becket.      He    was    perpetually    on    the    road    between 
London  and  Rome.       In   1167  and  again  in   1170  we 
find  him  at  Rome,  negotiating  with  the  pope  on  behalf 
of   the     king    and    against    the    primate.1      In     1167 

1  See  Roger  de  Hoveden ,  Rolls  Series,  i.,  276,  and  Giles' 
Life  and  Letters  of  Becket,  ii.,  369. 


208  IRELAND. 

he  bore  a  letter  from  the  pope  to  the  king,  striving  to 
bring  matters  to  a  compromise.  In  1170  Comyn 
was  sent  back  by  the  king,  and  reaching  Rome  at 
the  moment  when  the  news  of  Becket's  murder 
arrived,  found  the  pope  so  enraged  that  he  refused 
to  see  any  Englishman  for  eight  days.  But  John 
Comyn  had  not  visited  Rome  so  often  without 
learning  the  ways  of  the  papal  Court,  and  we  hear 
therefore  without  surprise  that  a  judicious  douceur  of 
500  marks — that  is,  something  more  than  ,£300 — 
opened  a  way  for  him  to  the  papal  presence. 

As  Comyn's  life  began  so  it  continued.  There  was 
not  one  atom  of  a  clergyman  about  him,  according  to 
modern  notions.  He  was  one  day  an  ambassador,  the 
next  day  a  judge,  but  never  a  priest  or  a  pastor  of 
souls.  Comyn  spent  his  life  in  state  affairs.  He  went 
as  ambassador  to  Spain  in  March  1177.*  He  was 
a  lawyer  too.  King  Henry  was  a  great  legislator 
as  well  as  a  great  soldier.  His  reforms  in  our  legal 
institutions  and  practices  were  many  and  practical. 
His  name  is  held  in  honour  for  one  special  achieve- 
ment,— he  brought  law  and  justice  home  to  every 
man's  door  by  the  institution  of  assize  courts.  He 
dispersed,  for  this  purpose,  itinerant  judges  all  through 
England.  And  in  this  great  work  John  Comyn 
had  his  own  share,  as  we  find  his  name  appearing 
in  the  list  of  justices  appointed  to  dispense  justice 
throughout  the  northern  counties  of  England  from 
the  year  1160  to  1179."  Thus  for  twenty  years 
at  least  before  his  election  as  bishop  John  Comyn  was 

1  See  Walter  of  Coventry,  Mcnwriale,  i.,  286  (Rolls  Series). 

-See  Benedict  of  Peterborough,  Gesta  Regis  Hen.  II.,  t.  i., 
p.  239  (Rolls  Series  )  ;  of.  the  preface  by  Bishop  Stubbs  to 
t.  ii.  of  the  same  writer,  pp.  Ixv-lxxi ;  Madox,  Hist,  of  Ex- 
chequer, pp.  84-96  ;  Foss's  Judges,  i.,  274. 


JOHN  COMYN.  209 


active  in  the  discharge  of  political  and  judicial  functions, 
while  his  spiritual  office  and  work  seem  to  have  been 
utterly  forgotten.  Yet,  just  as  in  the  case  of  Thomas 
a  Becket,  he  was  judged  the  fittest  man  to  hold  a  most 
important  See,  and  like  the  same  man  he  became  in  time 
the  sturdiest  champion  of  clerical  rights  and  privileges. 

Comyn  forthwith  departed  to  seek  confirmation  of  his 
election,  and  also  to  consult  with  the  pope  concerning 
Irish  affairs.  He  was  ordained  priest  at  Velletri  on 
March  I3th,  1182,  and  on  the  following  Palm  Sunday, 
March  2 1st,  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Dublin 
by  Pope  Lucius  III.  So  that  the  first  Norman  arch- 
bishop was  just  like  the  Danish  Bishops  of  Dublin — he 
disdained  an  Irish  or  Celtic  consecration  and  introduced 
a  succession  direct  from  Rome. 

This  pope,  Lucius  III.,  issued  a  bull  on  April  I3th 
of  the  same  year,  confirming  the  archbishop  in  his 
possessions  of  the  See  of  Dublin.  He  enumerates  them, 
and  thus  incidentally  gives  us  much  precious  informa- 
tion concerning  the  state  of  the  diocese  under  Comyn's 
predecessor.  We  learn  thence  what  the  property  of  the 
See  was  when  Laurence  O'Toole  died,  and  then  from 
subsequent  charters  of  King  John  and  Henry  III.  and 
Pope  Innocent  III.  we  can  easily  trace  how  rapidly  the 
Norman  archbishops  extended  the  estates  attached  to  the 
See  and  the  temporal  powers  exercised  by  its  occupants. 
From  the  bull  of  Pope  Lucius  we  find  that  St.  Laurence 
possessed  but  little  more  than  the  manors  or  landed 
property  attached  to  Swords,  Lusk,  and  Finglas,  with 
some  other  scattered  possessions  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  county  Dublin.1  This  bull,  after  enumerating 

1  See  Bishop  Reeves'  Analysis  of  tJic  United  Dioceses  of 
Dublin  and  Glenda/oitgh,  where  he  gives  a  revised  version 
and  translation  of  the  bull  of  Alexander  111.  to  Laurence 

14 


210  IRELAND. 

and  confirming  'his  estates,  then  proceeds  to  direct  the 
newly-consecrated  prelate  as  to  the  festival  days  and 
occasions  on  which  he  is  to  wear  the  pallium ;  it 
places  certain  restrictions  on  the  Celtic  monks,  who 
seem  to  have  been  asserting  daring  claims  as  to  their 
exemption  from  episcopal  supervision,  and  concludes 
by  prohibiting  the  old  Celtic  abuse,  which  flourished, 
not  only  in  Ireland  but  also  in  Wales,  of  the  hereditary 
possession  of  benefices,  handed  down  as  of  right  from 
father  to  son.  This  bull  is  interesting  to  us  as  members 
of  the  diocese  of  Dublin,  because  it  tells  us  of  the  Sees 
which  were  subject  to  its  metropolitan  jurisdiction.  They 
were  Wexford  or  Ferns,  Ossory,  Leighlin,  Kildare,  and 
the  diocese  of  the  Isles  (Episcopatum  Insularum),  a  title 
which  has  led  some  people  to  fancy  that  the  Isle  of 
Man  was  for  a  time  subject  to  the  See  of  Dublin,  which 
is  a  great  mistake.  The  bishopric  of  the  Isles  here 
referred  to  was  that  of  Glendalough,  so  called  because 
Glendalough  itself  is  an  island.  The  priory  or  abbey  of 
St.  Saviour's,  a  mile  or  so  to  the  east,  is  also  on  another 
island,  and  several  islands  occur  in  the  list  of  posses- 
sions belonging  to  the  See  and  Abbey  of  Glendalough,  as 
enumerated  in  various  bulls  and  charters  of  that  period.1 
This  bull  of  Pope  Lucius  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
prolonged  controversy  between  Armagh  and  Dublin.  It 
forbade  any  other  prelate  to  hold  synods,  or  to  use  any 
kind  of  jurisdiction  within  the  diocese  of  Dublin,  in  virtue 
of  which  grant  the  two  Archbishops  of  Armagh  and 
Dublin  waged  a  lengthened  strife,  the  primate  claiming 
the  power  of  holding  synods  anywhere  in  Ireland  and  of 


O'Toolc,  dated    11/9,  which   should  be    compared  with   that 
granted  to  Comyn  three  years  later. 

1  See  Register  of  All  I  fallows,  Dublhi,  ed.  Butler,  pp.  2, 
1 06. 


JOHN  COMYN. 


raising  his  cross  aloft  within  the  Dublin  diocese ;  a 
claim  which  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  as  firmly  resisted. 
Some  persons  will  perhaps  remark  how  very  Irish  that 
two  archbishops  should  fight  over  such  a  paltry  matter, 
and  yet  they  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  precisely  the 
same  contest  was  waged  in  England  between  the  Sees  of 
Canterbury  and  York.  It  went  even  farther  in  England 
than  in  Ireland.  With  us  the  Primate  of  Armagh  used 
simply  to  abstain  from  attending  Parliament  or  Convo- 
cation, assigning  as  his  excuse  the  hostile  action  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Dublin  ;  but  the  matter  was  far  worse  in 
England.  There  we  read  of  a  national  council  held  at 
Westminster  March  I4th,  1176,  in  presence  of  Hugh, 
Cardinal  of  St.  Angelo,  legate  of  the  pope,  when  the 
controversy  waxed  so  violent  that  the  contending 
prelates  with  their  retainers  came  to  blows.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  York  arrived  first  and  took  the  higher  seat. 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  followed  with  a  crowd 
of  attendants,  who  flung  the  York  prelate  out  of  the 
seat  of  honour,  tore  his  vestments  to  pieces,  and  thus 
put  an  end  to  the  Synod.  Such  were  Church  Synods 
in  the  Middle  Ages  !  * 

Archbishop  John  Comyn  obtained  this  bull  con- 
ferring these  privileges  on  the  diocese  of  Dublin,  and 
Archbishop  Alan  has  preserved  it  for  us  in  his  Register. 
But  Comyn  was  in  no  hurry  to  go  and  visit  his  diocese 
and  avail  himself  of  the  privileges  thus  bestowed.  He 
remained  with  the  king  for  two  years  and  a  half  at 
least  after  his  consecration,  leaving  his  diocese  to  the 


1  See    Chronicles  of   Stephen,  Henry  II.,  and    Richard    J.  ' 
(Rolls  Series),  t.  i.,  pp.  203-4.     For  a  narrative  of   the  Irish 
quarrel  and   the  many  le^al    contests  to   which   it  ^ave  rise 
see  Harris'  edition  of  Ware's  Bisliops  of  Ireland,  pp.  -i-  80; 
cf.  myjreland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  p.  330. 


212  IRELAND. 

care  of  others.  He  spent  the  Christmas  of  1182,  the 
first  Christmas  after  his  consecration,  at  Caen  in 
Normandy,  where  Henry  II.  then  held  his  Court.  The 
year  1183  and  the  first  half  of  1184  were  spent  by  him 
in  England,  engaged  doubtless  in  the  business  of  the 
state,  and  it  was  only  late  in  the  autumn  of  1184  that 
he  proceeded  to  Dublin.  But  it  was  not  spiritual  work 
that  brought  him  thither.  He  came  simply  to  dis- 
charge purely  secular  business.  John  Comyn,  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  was  very  like  some  modern  bishops. 
Primate  Boulter,  in  the  last  century,  was  perhaps 
in  modern  times  the  best  representative  of  this  first 
Anglo-Norman  archbishop.  Boulter  was  noble  in  his 
generosity,  profuse  in  giving,  magnificent  in  his  mode 
of  life,  but  he  had  no  higher  idea  of  his  spiritual  office 
than  Archbishop  Comyn.  Both  looked  on  their  secular 
and  state  functions  as  their  great  work,  and  neglected 
the  Divine  side  of  their  mission.  If  you  will  take  up 
Primate  Boulter's  letters  covering  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  first  half  of  the  last  century,  you  will  find  them 
a  very  sad  performance  indeed.  There  is  not  one  word 
in  them  which  might  not  as  well  have  been  written  by 
an  Under-Secretary  of  State  without  any  particular 
religious  opinions.  The  archbishopric  of  Dublin,  for 
instance,  fell  vacant  in  1729  by  the  death  of  the  cele- 
brated, learned,  and  pious  Dr.  William  King.  The 
Primate  at  once  writes  oft'  to  London  to  secure  the 
appointment  of  a  bishop  from  England,  as  "  the  course 
most  conducive  to  his  Majesty's  interest."  His  letters 
are  all  filled  with  the  mere  secular  affairs  of  state  and 
-his  devotion  to  them,  utterly  ignoring  that  higher  work 
which  rightly  belonged  to  his  office.  What  Boulter 
was  in  the  eighteenth,  that  was  John  Comyn  in  the 
twelfth  century,  and  even  worse,  for  while  Boulter 


JOHN  COMYN.  213 


constantly  resided  in  Ireland,  John  Comyn  seems  to 
have  lived  there  as  little  as  he  possibly  could.  He  paid 
his  first  visit  to  his  diocese  in  the  autumn  of  1184,  and 
then  came  only  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  matters 
for  the  arrival  of  Prince  John,  who  followed  him  the 
next  year,  when,  by  his  levity,  rashness,  and  want  of 
common  courtesy,  that  prince  and  his  companions  laid 
the  foundation  of  much  of  the  alienation  which  has 
since  prevailed,  not  merely  between  the  Celtic  race  and 
the  Anglo-Normans,  but  also  between  the  Anglo-Irish 
colonists  and  their  brethren  in  England.  But  the  Arch- 
bishop's heart  and  all  his  interest  were  in  England  and 
with  the  Court.  We  find  him  there  at  Christmas  1186. 
He  spent  the  next  two  years  in  his  diocese,  and  then 
King  Henry  II.  seems  to  have  invited  him  to  the  Christ- 
mas festival  at  Guildford,  in  Surrey,  where  he  proved 
himself  useful  in  dealing  with  the  Papal  Legate,  Cardinal 
Octavian,  who  appeared  at  Court  on  St.  Stephen's  Day, 
and  caused  much  trouble  by  his  extravagant  preten- 
sions.1 A  year  and  a  half  later — in  June,  1188— we 
find  the  Archbishop  in  Normandy,  acting  as  ambassador 
between  Prince  Richard  and  his  father,  Henry  II.  ; 
while  fifteen  months  later  still,  in  September,  1189,  he 
was  present  assisting  at  the  coronation  2  of  the  same 
prince  when  he  ascended  the  throne  as  Richard  I.  upon 
the  death  of  his  father.  And  it  was  just  the  same  as  he 

1  Benedict  of  Peterborough,  ii.,  4,  where  it  is  specially  noted 
that  the  legate  went  everywhere  in  his  scarlet  vestments  and 
wearing  a  mitre,  by  papal  command. 

-  Two  Irish  prelates,  the  Bishops  of  Ferns  andof  Annaghdown, 
assisted  at  this  coronation.  See  Benedict  of  Peterborough 
(Rolls  Series),  ii.,  79.  Annaghdown  is  now  united  to  Tuam. 
It  was  a  small  bishopric,  extending  over  the  district  subject 
down  to  our  own  time  to  the  Warden  of  Galway.  Cf.  Hardi- 
man's  Hist,  of  Gal-way,  p.  68  ;  Archdall's  Monasticon,  ed. 
Card.  Moran,  t.  ii.,  p.  206. 


2i4  IRELAND. 

grew  older.  He  was  present  and  assisting  at  the  coro- 
nation of  King  John  on  May  2/th,  1199.  Eighteen 
months  later  we  find  him  by  the  same  monarch's  side  at 
Lincoln,  in  November,  1200,  when  King  John  received 
the  homage  of  William  of  Scotland ;  while  the  next 
day  the  sovereign  and  archbishop  alike  assisted  at  the 
funeral  of  St.  Hugh  of  Lincoln.1  The  first  Norman 
Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  the  second 
one  too,  were  the  devoted  servants  of  Henry  II.,  of  his 
sons  Richard  and  John,  and  of  his  grandson  Henry  III. 
The  best  portion,  in  fact,  of  the  first  ten  years  of 
Comyn's  episcopate  must  have  been  spent  in  England. 

How,  you  may  ask  me,  in  that  case  was  the  work  of 
his  diocese  carried  on  ?  The  reply  is  easy  enough.  He 
used  the  services  of  the  neighbouring  bishops.  The 
Bishops  of  Meath,  Kildare,  and  Glendalough  were  very 
convenient  to  Dublin,  and  they  could  perform  all  ordin- 
ary episcopal  functions,  while  as  for  the  diocese  itself, 
a  vicar-general  or  commissary,  endowed  with  an  epis- 
copal commission,  could  discharge  all  the  duties  involved 
in  the  jurisdiction  of  his  office  as  regards  wills,  charges 
of  heresy,  and  matrimonial  suits.  Assistant-bishops, 
too,  were  sometimes  used.  Bishops,  indeed,  of  the  old 
Celtic  consecrations  were  still  plentiful  in  Ireland,  and 
some  of  them  may  have  been  utilised.2  But,  further 
still,  we  catch  glimpses,  in  the  history  of  the  Dublin 
archbishops,  of  coadjutor  bishops,  such  as  are  now 
so  much  the  fashion  in  England.  The  bishops  ot 
Cjlendalough  were  intended  by  one  charter  to  have  been 
thus  utilised,  though  the  design  never  seems  to  have 


1  See  Walter  of  Coventry,  jMcmoriale,  t.  ii.,  pp.  146,  171,  172; 
Cirald.  Camb.,  Opp.,  t.  vii.,  p.  114  (Rolls  Series). 

•  See  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  Ware's  Antiquities,  prefixed 
to  Harris's  edition  of  Ware's  Bisliops  of  Ireland. 


JOHN  COMYN.  215 


been  carried  out  ;  while  in  the  time  of  Archbishop 
Fulk  de  Saundford,  in  the  years  1266  and  1273,  we 
find  express  mention  of  Robert,  Bishop  of  Dublin, 
who  must  have  been  simply  acting  in  the  capacity 
of  coadjutor  to  the  Archbishop.1 

But  now  a  most  interesting  question  arises, — Do  we 
know  anything  of  Archbishop  Comyn's  action  when 
present  here  in  Ireland  ?  And  to  that  question  we  can 
give  a  most  satisfactory  reply ;  for  we  know  a  great 
deal  of  what  he  did,  much  of  which  remains  unto  the 
present  day.  During  the  episcopate  of  John  Comyn 
there  may  not  have  been  much  devotion  to  purely 
spiritual  work,  but  he  certainly  attended  carefully  to 
the  temporal  welfare  of  the  See.2  Me  enlarged  its 
estates,  he  increased  its  dignities,  and  by  his  personal 
liberality  established  one  of  our  noblest  cathedral 
churches.  A  notice  of  these  various  points  will  intro- 
duce you  to  the  secret  recesses  of  the  Church  history  of 
the  times. 

Archbishop  Comyn  enlarged  the  estates  and  temporal 


1  See  D*  Alton's  History  of  the  Archbishops  of  Dublin,  pp. 
98,  103. 

-  Archbishop  John  Comyn  did  not  wholly  neglect  the  spiritual 
affairs  of  his  diocese.  He  held  a  synod,  beginning  on  the 
4th  Sunday  in  Lent,  1186,  where  several  canons  were  passed 
touching  the  celebration  of  the  Sacraments  and  other  practical 
questions.  The  decrees  of  this  synod  are  printed  in  Ware's 
Bishops,  p.  316,  from  the  records  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  Dublin.  Cf.  Dalton's  Archbishops  of  Dublin,  p.  72. 
This  synod  decreed  the  use  of  stone  altars  in  the  Irish  Church 
instead  of  the  wooden  tables  previously  in  use.  If  a  stone 
altar  could  not  be  provided,  a  slab  of  stone  at  least  large 
enough  to  receive  the  sacred  vessels  should  be  inserted  in  the 
table.  The  altars  were  to  be  decently  vested,  eucharistic 
vessels  of  gold,  silver,  or,  at  least,  pewter,  and  stone  fonts, 
were  to  be  purchased  for  every  church.  In  fact,  Archbishop 
Comyn's  regulations  show  that  the  slovenliness  still  too  often 
prevalent  in  Irish  churches  is  an  old  national  complaint. 


216  IRELAND. 

possessions  of  the  archbishopric.  He  found  it  a  poor 
See,  he  left  it  a  rich  one ;  though  in  effecting  his  pur- 
pose his  action  was,  I  must  confess,  after  a  style  and  by 
means  like  those  used  by  Ahab,  King  of  Israel,  when 
he  possessed  himself  of  the  vineyard  of  Naboth  the 
Jezreelite.  Dublin,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  had 
been  originally  part  of  the  diocese  of  Glendalough. 
A  bull  of  Alexander  III.,  directed  to  St.  Laurence, 
recognised  the  county  of  Dublin  as  far  as  Rathmichael 
as  the  diocese  of  Dublin,  corresponding  generally, 
I  should  say,  to  the  territories  under  the  rule  of  the 
Danes,  together  with  those  governed  by  the  chieftain 
Mocholmoc,  who  seems  to  have  owned  all  the  districts 
of  Dublin  west  and  south-west  of  the  city.1  The 
diocese  of  Glendalough  embraced  the  present  county 
Wicklow,  which  was  by  grant  from  the  same  Pope 
confirmed  to  it.  Glendalough,  the  city  of  St.  Kevin, 
retained  one  clear  trace  of  the  old  monastic  organization 
of  the  Celtic  Church, — it  had  an  endowed  bishopric  and 
also  an  endowed  abbey,  but  the  abbacy  was  much  richer 
and  more  valuable  than  the  bishopric.2  The  abbey  was 
at  that  time  held  by  Thomas,  nephew  of  St.  Laurence. 


1  See  Charfce,  Privilegia,  etc.,  p.  3. 

-  For  a  list  of  the  estates  and  possessions  of  the  Abbey  of 
Glendalough  see  the  bull  of  Alexander  III.,  A.I).  1 179,  in  Dr. 
Reevcs's  Analysis  of  Diocese  of  Dublin  and  Glendalough 
already  quoted,  or  in  Chartcc,  Privilegia  et  Immimitates, 
p.  3.  A  revised  edition  of  this  work  would  be  a  valuable  help 
to  Irish  historians.  The  documents  should  be  compared  by  an 
expert  with  the  originals  in  the  Crcde  Mihi,  Alan's  Register, 
etc.,  and  annotated  by  a  competent  antiquarian.  Dr.  Reeves's 
revision  of  two  charters  in  his  Analysis  shows  what  might  be 
done  in  this  direction.  I  suspect  that  the  transcriber  of  fifty 
years  ago  made  many  mistakes,  especially  in  the'  names  of 
places.  The  Life  of  St.  Laurence,  as  given  in  Surius  and 
Messingham,  describes  the  wealth  of  the  Abbot  of  Glendalough 
as  exceeding  that  of  the  bishop. 


JOHN  COMYN.  217 


The  bishopric  was  held  by  a  man  named  Malchus,  who 
had  been  Archdeacon  of  Dublin.  The  present  occupants 
could  not  of  course  be  disturbed,  for  vested  interests 
have  been  always  respected  by  all  but  the  most 
revolutionary  governments.  But  Archbishop  Comyn 
determined  to  enrich  his  See  by  securing  the  reversion 
of  those  rich  endowments.  He  therefore  procured  a 
charter  from  Prince  John  during  his  brief  visit  in  1185, 
uniting  the  See  of  Glendalough  with  that  of  Dublin,  on 
account  of  the  paucity  of  inhabitants  in  the  former 
diocese  and  the  poverty  of  the  latter — a  charter  which 
was  further  confirmed  by  another  issued  by  the  same 
prince  to  the  same  archbishop  some  seven  years  later, 
in  1 192,  enacting  that  the  Bishop  of  Glendalough  should 
act  as  the  Vicar  and  Chaplain  of  the  Archbishopric  of 
Dublin,  and  that  the  estates  of  the  See  should  pass  to 
Dublin.1  But  these  charters  affected  the  bishopric  only, 
and  the  rich  abbey  remained  behind.  Some  time,  there- 
fore, between  1190  and  1200  Archbishop  Comyn 
procured  a  charter  from  the  papal  legate  the  Archbishop 
of  Cashel,  confirming  a  grant  of  the  abbey  to  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Dublin  made  by  Prince  John.-  The  convent, 
indeed,  struggled  hard  to  avoid  absorption  into  the 
archiepiscopal  net,  and  appealed  to  the  reigning  pope, 
Innocent  III.,  who  by  a  bull,  dated  1199,  received  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Glendalough  into  his 

1  See  Charttc,  etc.,  pp.  4,  7,  15,  16.  On  p.  15  there  is  an 
important  bull  of  Innocent  III.,  dated  February  25th,  1215. 
Cardinal  John  Paparo  is  there  described  as  legate  sent  to  limit 
and  shape  the  dioceses  of  Ireland — "ad  informandas  et  limi- 
tandas  Hibernienses  Ecclesias."  Paparo  is  said  to  have 
found  Dublin  included  in  the  diocese  of  Glendalough,  but  to 
have  made  it  a  metropolitical  See  because  it  was  a  royal  seat 
and  the  capital  of  Ireland. 

-  See  an  inspeximus  of  this  grant  by  Richard  11.  in  1395,  in 
Charts,  Privilcgia  et  Immunitates,  p.  92. 


218  IRELAND. 

special  protection,  threatening  all  assailants  thereof  with 
the  wrath  and  indignation  of  Almighty  God  and  of  the 
blessed  apostles  SS.  Peter  and  Paul.1  All  such  threats 
were,  however,  in  vain,  for  the  Dublin  prelates,  regard- 
less of  papal  bulls,  absorbed  the  abbey  as  well  as  the 
bishopric,  gaining  estates  which  stretched  over  the 
whole  county,  from  the  sea  to  the  very  border  of  Kil- 
dare.  The  Abbot  of  Glendalough  must  have  been  one 
of  the  largest  landholders  in  the  whole  district,  and  the 
transfer  of  his  estates  placed  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin 
in  the  same  position.  The  archbishops  were  thus 
vested  with  great  power,  which  they  did  not  always 
use  wisely.  Archbishop  Luke,  the  third  Norman  arch- 
bishop who  beautified  and  extended  Christ  Church,  was 
not  equally  careful  of  his  estates.  In  1230,  just  thirty 
years  after  the  See  obtained  the  property,  he  disaf- 
forested a  large  portion  of  the  county  Wicklow  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  his  episcopal  election,  which  had 
been  contested  before  the  papal  Court.  None  of  us 
can  now  have  a  conception  of  the  frightful  tax  upon 
the  resources  of  this  country  implied  in  these  frequent 
appeals  to  the  papal  tribunals,  but  we  can  all  see  a 
practical  proof  of  their  effects  in  the  present  state  of 
the  great  central  tract  of  Wicklow.  Take  the  train  to 
Bray,  walk  up  the  Long  Hill  and  the  Rocky  Valley 
which  lead  to  the  top  of  the  Great  Sugar  Loaf.  Turn 
your  gaze  westwards  towards  Glendalough,  and  your 
eye  will  scarce  rest  on  a  single  tree  all  over  that 
central  plain,  including  Calary  Bog,  Roundwood,  and  on 
to  the  waters  of  Clara  Vale,  Laragh  and  the  Lugduff 
range.  Here  and  there,  as  you  drive,  you  will  meet 
a  plantation  of  modern  growth.  But,  in  general,  the 

1  Sec  Char  tec,  Privilegia,  etc.,  p.  u. 


JOHN  COMYN.  219 


absence  of  trees  lends  a  sense  of  desolation  to  what 
would  otherwise  be  a  splendid  upland  scene.  And  all 
this  is  due  to  the  action  of  Archbishop  Luke  to  gratify 
papal  exactions  in  the  year  I23O.1  The  drain  of  wealth 
to  satisfy  absentees,  whether  foreigners  in  name  or  in 
reality,  can  never  be  anything  but  destructive  to  an 
agricultural  country  like  Ireland. 

Archbishop  Comyn  not  only  enriched  the  See  of 
Dublin ;  he  advanced  it  to  the  position  of  a  great 
feudal  dignity.  The  mere  possession  in  fee  of 
landed  property,  at  this  period,  brought  with  it 
great  power  and  dignities,  the  tradition  of  which  still 
remains  in  the  fancy  prices  rich  traders  and  manu- 
facturers were  till  lately  willing  to  pay  for  landed 
estates.  The  owners  of  land  in  the  twelfth  century 
were  entitled  to  hold  Courts  Leet  and  Courts  Baron, 
in  which  all  minor  pleas  could  be  tried,  with  a 
right  of  appeal,  however,  to  the  Courts  of  the  Crown. 
But  Archbishop  Comyn  was  not  content  with  a  juris- 
diction like  that.  He  aspired  to  the  position  of  a 
palatine  lord,  and  to  secure  his  purpose  he  was  created, 
in  April  1 184,  a  baron,  or  rather,  to  use  more  technical 
language,  was  granted  lands  in  barony  near  Ballymore 
in  Kildare;  while,  some  seven  years  subsequently,  Prince 
John  issued  a  charter  conferring  power  upon  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin  to  hold  courts  and  execute  justice 
upon  his  tenants,  whether  in  towns  or  in  the  country, 
totally  irrespective  of  the  local  authorities  ;  a  provision 
which  frequently  brought  the  Dublin  prelates  into  colli- 
sion with  the  mayor  and  corporation,  in  which  contests 


1  See  Ware's  Bishops  of  Ireland,  ed.  Harris,  p.  320,  and 
Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Documents,  t.  i.,  p.  262,  Nos.  1757, 
1765,  where  a  full  account  of  this  act  of  vandalism  will  be 
found. 


220  IRELAND. 

the  archbishops  generally  came  off  successful.1  In 
virtue  of  this  charter  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  became 
a  terror  to  evil-doers.  He  had  his  seneschals,  coroners, 
bailiffs,  his  prisons  and  his  gallows,  in  abundance. 
It  was  no  light  matter  in  those  times  to  be  caught 
sheep-stealing,  marauding,  or  moonlighting  upon  any  of 
the  extensive  manors  of  the  Archbishop.  A  long  rope 
and  a  short  shrift  were  the  cure  for  such  social  pests. 
We  have  preserved  for  us  a  mass  of  documents  giving 
us  the  particulars  of  this  jurisdiction.  The  Archbishop 
held  courts  and  exercised  jurisdiction  through  his  officers 
at  Swords,  St.  Sepulchre,  Ballymore,  Shankhill,  Castle- 
dermot,  Clondalkin,  Rathcoolc,  and  Castle  Kevin.  At  all 
these  places  he  had  gallows  and  gibbets.  The  episcopal 
gallows  at  Dublin  was,  of  course,  outside  the  city 
bounds.  It  stood  somewhere  near  Harold's  Cross,  and 
we  have  on  record  a  curious  story  of  an  unfortunate 
man  named  John  Brekedent  who  about  this  time  was 
acquitted  of  homicide  and  robbery  in  the  King's  Court. 
He  went,  however,  to  live  at  Rathcoole,  upon  the  Arch- 
bishop's land,  where  he  was  charged  with  the  same 
crime,  and,  notwithstanding  his  acquittal,  was  brought 
to  Dublin,  tried  at  St.  Sepulchre,  convicted,  and  duly 
hanged  at  Harold's  Cross."  This  brief  notice  will 
suffice  to  show  you  what  a  high  and  mighty  prince  the 
Archbishop  of  Dublin  was  in  mediaeval  times,  when 
Archbishop  Comyn  regulated  all  matters,  from  murder 
down  to  the  weights  and  measures  of  bread,  wine,  and 
beer,  over  large  portions  of  the  present  counties  of 
Dublin,  Wicklow,  and  Kildare. 


'  Cf.  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  207,  no.  1789,  and 
Cliarta',  Pfivilcgia  ct  liniiiuintatcs,  p.  6. 

-  See  J.  T.  Gilbert's  Municipal  Documents  (Rolls  Scries), 
pp.  1-10-04. 


JOHN  COMYN.  221 

Archbishop  Comyn's  See  was  elevated  and  enriched, 
but  he  could  not  rest,  and  his  soul  was  not  yet  satisfied. 
His  palace  was,  as  I  have  told  you,  beside  his  cathedral 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Synod 
House.  There  he  lived,  though  so  powerful  without 
the  gates,  yet  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  provosts 
and  corporation  of  Dublin,  and  overshadowed  by  the 
authority  of  the  Constable,  Justiciary,  or  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant for  the  time  being.  He  chafed  under  this  sub- 
ordination, and  determined  to  get  rid  of  it  by  erecting 
a  residence  and  a  great  collegiate  church  outside  the 
city  gates  and  within  his  own  immediate  ^  territory, 
which,  fortunately  for  his  purpose,  ran  close  up  to  the 
city  walls.  This  was  the  origin  of  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  a  subject  on  which  I  must  say  a  few 
words. 

St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  was  a  parish  church  before  it 
became  a  collegiate  church,  and  it  was  a  collegiate 
church  before  it  became  a  cathedral  church  ;  a  collegiate 
church,  being  a  collegium  or  brotherhood  of  priests 
ruled  over  by  a  dean  or  warden,  but  having  no  neces- 
sary or  actual  connection  with  a  bishop.  St.  Patrick's 
seems  to  have  been  an  ancient  church  belonging  to 
the  purely  Irish  or  Celtic  population  which  gathered 
outside  the  walls  of  the  Danish  city  of  Dublin,  and 
at  a  respectful  distance  therefrom.  Such  Celtic  or 
Irish  towns  still  exist,  in  name  at  least,  in  connection 
with  many  of  our  cities  and  towns.  Thus  we  Dublin 
folk  have  our  own  Irishtown  close  to  Ringsend. 
Irishtown  was  a  portion  of  Kilkenny,  and  a  separate  u 
and  distinct  borough  returning  two  members  to  the 
Irish  Parliament;  Athlone  to  this  day  has  a  suburb 
called  by  this  name,  just  outside  the  line  of  the  ancient 
fortifications.  St.  Patrick's,  St.  Kevin's,  St.  Peter's,  St. 


IRELAND. 


Paul's,  and  St.  Bride's,  were  the  dedications  of  the 
churches  which  gathered  round  this  Irish  town  outside 
the  gates  of  St.  Werburgh  and  St.  Nicholas'  Streets, 
and  these  were  all  Celtic  favourites.  Of  St.  Patrick, 
St.  Bride,  and  St.  Kevin  of  Glendalough  we  need 
say  nothing ;  but  sufficient  proof  of  the  popularity  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul  among  the  Celts  is  offered  by 
the  fact  that  the  great  abbey  or  cathedral  church  of 
Glendalough  was  dedicated  in  their  honour.  St. 
Patrick's  seems,  however,  to  have  had  the  pre-eminence 
over  all  the  other  suburban  churches  of  the  city. 
Possibly  jt  was  a  larger  church.  Possibly  it  was  the 
more  difficult  to  get  at,  and  required  more  self-denial 
and  involved  more  danger  in  attendance,  and  therefore, 
from  a  Celtic  point  of  view,  brought  more  sanctity  with 
it.  It  was  originally  situated  on  an  island  in  the  middle 
of  a  swamp  or  bog.  It  is  called  expressly  "  Ecclesia  S. 
Patricii  in  Insula  "  by  Pope  Alexander  III.  writing  to 
St.  Laurence  O'Toole.  The  keenest  eyesight  cannot 
now  discover  an  island  or  water  in  this  locality,  but 
running  underneath  the  streets  is  to  this  day  a  river 
which  joins  the  Liffey  below  Grattan  Bridge,  and 
dividing  at  the  cathedral  into  two  streams  rendered 
St.  Patrick's  an  island  eight  hundred  years  ago. 
John  Comyn  considered  the  position,  and  saw  that 
this  spot  offered  the  very  advantages  he  desired. 
It  was  outside  the  city  jurisdiction,  it  had  a  church, 
and  a  river  always  flowing  and  offering  every  con- 
venience for  mills, — a  very  necessary  point  in  those 
times.  In  addition,  it  was  a  part  of  the  estate  of  the 
See  of  Dublin,  to  which  the  Crown  had  granted  large 
baronial  rights.  He,  therefore,  is  said  to  have  con- 
secrated, on  March  i/th  (St.  Patrick's  Day),  in  the  year 
1191,  a  new  church  in  honour  of  St.  Patrick  on  the  site 


JOHN  COMYN.  223 

of  the  old  church,  which  he  threw  down  as  doubtless 
too  mean  and  poor  according  to  his  Norman  notions. 
He  made  it  a  collegiate  church,  not  attempting  to  inter- 
fere with  the  ancient  conventual  cathedral  of  the  Holy 
Trinity ;  a  church  and  community  which  seem  to  have 
behaved  generously  to  the  new  foundation  in  trans- 
ferring to  it  various  endowments,  and  specially  its 
ancient  church  of  St.  Bride's.  In  this  collegiate  church 
Archbishop  Comyn  placed  thirteen  prebendaries,  whom 
he  endowed  out  of  the  vast  estates  which  had  been 
conferred  upon  the  See,  He  seems,  at  any  rate,  to 
have  been  a  generous  and  lavish  benefactor  to  his 
Dublin  institution,  though  so  often  an  absentee.1  He 
made,  too,  another  change.  He  removed  the  archi- 
episcopal  residence  outside  the  city  walls,  and  planted 
it  down  beside  the  collegiate  church.  There  he  built  a 
palace,  the  palace  of  St.  Sepulchre,  which  still  remains, 
though  sadly  fallen  from  its  high  estate,  as  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Dublin,  about  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
sold  their  ancient  house  of  St.  Sepulchre  to  the  govern- 
ment, who  turned  it  into  a  police  barrack,  in  which 
condition  it  remains  unto  this  da}r.  The  name  of  this 
palace  has  often  puzzled  people,  and  yet  it  is  clear  as 
daylight  to  any  who  will  consider  the  circumstances  and 
history  of  the  times.  The  year  1887  will,  I  am  sure, 
produce  a  crop  of  Jubilee  designations  and  titles.  How 
many  Victorias,  and  Alberts,  and  Albert  Edwards  now 
figure  in  our  family  rolls,  where  they  were  totally  un- 
known half  a  century  ago.  Every  great  public  event, 
every  historic  crisis,  every  distinguished  public  man, 

1  All  the  original  charters  and  bulls  about  the  foundation  of 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  will  be  found  printed  in  W.  M.  Mason's 
History  of  that  church,  App.  I.  Cf.  the  notices  of  the  con- 
secration of  St.  Patrick's  in  Dudley  Loftus's  MS.  Annals  in 
Marsh's  Library. 


224  IRELAND. 

leaves  a  mark,  if  nowhere  else,  at  least  in  the  nomen- 
clature of  the  times.  So  was  it  in  the  twelfth  century. 
The  close  of  it  was  marked  by  a  rage  for  crusades  and 
the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  infidel  hands. 
In  the  year  1184  Heraclius,  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
visited  England,  to  induce  Henry  II.  to  undertake  an 
expedition  for  its  recovery.  With  this  distinguished 
ecclesiastic  John  Comyn  must  often  have  consulted. 
The  air  of  the  times  was  thick  with  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
and  its  recovery,  and  therefore,  when  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin  wanted  a  name  for  his  new  home,  he  called 
it,  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  Palace  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  And  now  when  you  pass  the  horse- 
police  barracks  in  Kevin  Street,  you  will  look  upon  it 
with  more  reverence,  feeling  that  there  you  have  a  relic 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  last  remnant  of  the  Crusades.1 
Archbishop  Comyn  went  further.  He  not  only  re- 
moved himself  outside  the  city  jurisdiction,  but  he 
also  set  up  a  rival  jurisdiction,  and  constituted  the 
Manor  of  St.  Sepulchre  a  liberty,  as  it  was  called,  the 
Archbishop's  liberty,  with  seneschals,  coroners,  courts, 
and  bailiffs,  which  remained  in  active  operation  till  fifty 
years  ago,  and  of  which  you  will  find  an  elaborate 
statement  in  the  Report  of  the  Municipal  Corporation 
Commission  on  the  City  of  Dublin,  in  the  Parliament- 
ary Papers  for  1835  and  1836.  If  you  take  up  these 
reports  and  read  them,  you  will  be  astonished  to  find 


1  See  William  of  Ncwburgh's  ffist.  Rer.  Anglic.,  lib.  iii., 
capp.  x.  and  xxiii.,  in  Chron.  Stephen,  etc.  (Rolls  Series),  t.  i., 
pp.  240,  272,  about  the  Crusades  and  the  visit  of  Heraclius. 
St.  Sepulchre's  parish  in  London,  the  Temple  Church,  and  the 
Round  Church  of  St.  Sepulchre  at  Cambridge,  all  date  back 
to  the  same  period  as  St.  Sepulchre's  in  Dublin,  and  witness 
to  the  same  crusading  movement.  See  Arclueulogia,  t.  vi., 
p.  172. 


JOHN  COMYN.  225 


that  within  the  lifetime  of  the  present  generation  such 
traces  and  jurisdictions  of  the  Middle  Ages  as  ecclesi- 
astical princes  with  prisons  and  magistrates  of  their 
own,  still  survived ;  Archbishop  Whately,  the  great 
Whig  prelate,  being  the  last  Archbishop  of  Dublin 
whose  decrees  consigned  prisoners  to  an  archiepiscopal 
prison  for  the  common  ordinary  offences  of  everyday 
life.  Perhaps  it  will  be  of  special  local  interest  to 
know  that  the  liberty  of  St.  Sepulchre,  which  was  thus 
independent  of  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Corporation  so 
lately  as  1840,  extended  from  Miltown  to  the  south 
side  of  Stephen's  Green,  including  Harcourt  Street, 
Bishop  Street,  Bride  Street,  Bull  Alley,  Patrick  Street, 
Harold's  Cross,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  Rath- 
mines  township,  which  still  doggedly  maintains  its 
ancient  claims  to  independence  as  regards  the  juris- 
diction of  the  city  corporation.1 

1  The  reference  for  the  Municipal  Corporation  Commissioners' 
Report  on  St.  Sepulchre's  Manor  and  Liberty  is  Parliamen- 
tary Papers,  1836,  vol.  xxiv.,  pp.  289-98.  They  mention  that 
the  last  exercise  of  the  Archbishop's  criminal  jurisdiction  was 
in  1803,  when  a  case  of  forgery  was  tried  before  his  seneschal. 
The  prison  of  the  liberty  still  exists,  and  is  now  a  Female  Re- 
formatory School,  rejoicing-  in  the  strange  title  of  Rehoboth. 
I  may  throw  out  the  suggestion  that  the  liberty  of  St.  Sepulchre 
is  a  remnant  of  ancient  Celtic  jurisdictions.  The  Municipal 
Commissioners  report  that  it  consisted  of  the  ancient  parishes 
of  St.  Kevin  and  St.  Patrick.  In  a  bull  of  Alexander  III.  to 
St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  A.D.  1179,  mention  is  made  of  the 
church  of  St.  Kevin,  "  Cum  suburbio  et  aliis  pertinentiis  "  (see 
Charts,  Privilegia,  etc.,  p.  2).  In  a  confirmation  by  Prince 
John  to  Archbishop  Comyn  (I.e.,  p.  8),  we  notice  the  land  of 
St.  Kevin,  "  Quam  antique  jure  possedit  Ecclesia  Dublin- 
ensis."  In  the  charter  founding  St.  Patrick's,  issued  by  the 
same  archbishop,  we  find  among  the  endowments  bestowed 
upon  the  new  establishment,  "  Ecclesiam  Sancti  Kevini  cum 
omnibus  decimis  et  pertinentiis  suis  ;  et  omnes  decimas  de  terra 
S.  Kevini  de  dominico  nostro  ;  cum  omnibus  decimis  totius  terras 
Sancti  Patricii ;  et  de  nemore  ejusdem  terne  quantum  suflicit 
ad  furnum  Comrnunias  Suae,  et  ad  sepes  illorum  claudendas, 

15 


226  IRELAND. 

Institutions  are  very  long-lived.  They  may  be  so 
antiquated  as  to  have  become  mere  mummies.  Yet  to 
the  historian  they  are  just  as  precious  as  the  mummies 
of  Egypt  to  the  antiquarian.  If  gently  opened  up  and 
carefully  unrolled,  their  very  abuses  and  decay  may 
often  reveal,  as  the  manor  and  palace  of  St.  Sepulchre 
do,  the  institutions,  the  social  life,  and  the  enthusiasms 
of  ages  long  since  buried  in  the  gloom  of  a  distant 
past. 

ct  aream  ad  furnum  faciendum  ;  et  Communem  pasturam 
terrse  S.  Kevini  "  (see  Mason's  Hist,  of  St.  Patrick' s,  App.  I.). 
It  is  evident  from  these  extracts  that  there  was  a  large  extent 
of  land,  wood,  and  common  pasture  attached  to  the  churches  of 
St.  Kevin  and  St.  Patrick  prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  English. 
Mr.  Mills'  paper  on  the  Rental  of  the  Liberty  of  St.  Sepulchre, 
to  which  I  have  already  referred,  proves  that  St.  Sepulchre's 
Manor  extended  over  the  same  district  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  municipal  commissioner  found  its  extent  precisely 
the  same  in  the  present  century.  The  tenants  on  such  church 
land  were  partly  free,  partly  servile,  according  to  Ussher's 
learned  treatise  on  Corbes,  Herenachs,  etc.,  Opp.,  ed.  Elring- 
ton,  t.  xi.,  p.  421 ;  and  such  the  tenants  of  St.  Sepulchre's  were 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  according  to  Mr.  Mills'  paper  and 
Alan's  Register.  We  get  even  a  glimpse  of  their  origin,  and 
that  in  a  curious  way.  Since  the  foundation  of  St.  Patrick's 
as  a  collegiate  church  in  1190,  the  archbishops  of  Dublin  have 
always  held  the  stall  of  Cualaun,  or  Cullen,  as  it  is  commonly 
called.  It  was  formed  by  Archbishop  Comyn,  and  endowed  out 
of  the  demesne  lands  appertaining  to  St.  Sepulchre,  and  then 
was  connected  with  St.  Kevin's  Church,  which  was  assigned  to 
the  Archbishop's  vicar  choral  {Repertorium  Viride,  s.v.  St. 
Kevin  ;  and  Mason's  St. Patrick's,  p.  48).  It  was  evidently  so 
called  from  the  Cualanni,  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the 
eastern  districts  of  Dublin  and  Wicklow.  They  had  been  re- 
duced to  servitude  by  subsequent  invaders,  but  still  formed 
the  basis  of  the  population,  and  were  sufficiently  numerous  to 
impose  their  name  even  on  ecclesiastical  dignities.  They  have 
left  their  names  stamped  on  the  topography  of  the  district 
from  Dublin  and  Cullenswood  far  down  into  Wicklow.  See 
Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  p.  52. 


LECTURE  X. 

AN  EPISCOPAL  VICEROY  AND  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  ANGLO-NORMAN  ANARCHY. 

IN  my  last  lecture  I  endeavoured  to  sketch  the 
history  of  Archbishop  John  Comyn,  who  heads 
the  list  of  Anglo-Norman  archbishops.  He  was  typical 
of  all  his  successors.  He  set  an  example  they  all 
followed.  They  were  English  archbishops  in  Ireland, 
and  every  one  of  the  pre-Reformation  archbishops 
imitated  their  leader.  They  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  Celtic  part  of  the  population ;  nay,  they  thoroughly 
despised  and  disliked  them ;  so  much  so  that  some 
three  hundred  years  later,  when  Archbishop  Fitz-Simons 
and  Dean  Alleyne  were  combining  in  1497  to  found  an 
hospital  near  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  they  ordered  that 
those  only  should  be  admissible  who  were  proved 
Catholics,  of  honest  conversation,  of  English  nation, 
chiefly  from  the  families  of  Allen,  Barrett,  Begg,  Hill, 
Dillon,  and  Rogers,  settlers  in  the  dioceses  of  Dublin 
and  Meath,  above  all,  that  no  Irishman  should  ever 
be  admitted ;  and  this  was  fifty  years  before  the 
Reformation.1 

These  early  Anglo-Norman  archbishops  were  all 
great  courtiers,  too,  as  my  narrative  has  shown,  very 
fond  of  hanging  about  the  English  Court,  and  figuring 
at  Court  ceremonials  ;  while  to  crown  the  picture 


1  Mason's  History  of  St.  Patric/cs,  p.  142  ;  cf.  p.  144  and 
App.  xiii. 


228  IRELAND. 


Archbishop  Comyn  set  an  example  which  for  hundreds 
of  years  was  diligently  followed  by  his  successors.  He 
seems  to  have  imported  numerous  relations  of  his  own, 
to  whom  he  made  leases  of  the  property  and  lands  of 
the  See,  granting  a  portion  of  the  ancient  palace 
grounds  near  Christ  Church  to  one  Gilbert  Comyn, 
which  the  next  archbishop  handed  over  to  the  Chapter 
for  the  erection  of  a  porter's  lodge ;  while  again  about 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  we  find  notices 
of  lawsuits  between  the  Comyns  and  the  Prior  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  touching  lands  held  under  that 
Corporation. 

Archbishop  Comyn  ruled  the  diocese  of  Dublin 
during  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  the  whole  of  one 
son's  reign  (Richard  I.),  and  during  the  greater  part 
of  King  John's  reign.  That  period  was  eventful  for 
both  Church  and  State  in  Ireland  as  in  England.  It 
was  marked  all  through  by  ecclesiastical  disputes. 
These  Plantagenet  sovereigns  were  perpetually  at 
war  with  the  Pope  and  his  representatives.  Becket's 
struggle  with  Henry  II.  was  typical  of  many  a  similar 
struggle  between  the  Crown  and  the  Church,  which 
went  on  throughout  the  sixty  years  covered  by  the 
reigns  of  Henry  and  his  sons.  Half  of  King  John's 

1  Archbishop  John  Comyn  introduced  to  Ireland  his  nephew 
Geoffrey  de  Marisco,  endowing  him,  about  1200  A.D.,  out  of 
the  lands  of  the  See.  See  Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Docu- 
ments, t.  i.,  p.  42,  No.  276.  This  Geoffrey  became  a  great 
man  in  Ireland.  He  was  Justiciary  in  February  1215  (I.e., 
p.  84,  No.  537),  and  continued  for  the  following  thirty  years  to 
play  an  important  part  in  English  and  Irish  political  life,  as 
this  Calejtdar  and  the  works  of  Matthew  Paris  abundantly 
prove.  About  the  family  of  Comyn  and  their  lawsuits  see 
Ualton's  History  of  the  Archbishops  of  Dublin,  p.  89,  and 
the  Rcgistrum  Mahnesbiiricnse  (Rolls  Series),  t.  i.,  pp.  250- 
57,  where  we  have  a  notice  of  a  trial  between  the  Comyns  and 
the  Prior  of  Christ  Church  Cathedral. 


AN  EPISCOPAL   VICEROY.  229 


reign  was  spent  with  the  nation  labouring  under  an 
interdict.  From  1208  to  1214  the  See  of  Exeter,  for 
instance,  was  vacant  because  of  this  interdict.  A  con- 
scientious priest  or  bishop  had  then  a  difficult  time. 
On  the  one  hand  was  the  Pope  forbidding  the  exercise 
of  all  his  functions ;  on  the  other  was  the  King 
threatening  to  hang,  imprison,  or  exile  those  who 
refused  to  officiate  as  usual.  Between  the  upper 
millstone  of  the  Crown  and  the  lower  millstone  of  the 
Pope  verily  the  clergy  were  in  a  bad  case.1  We  are 
very  apt  indeed  to  allow  our  sympathies  and  feelings 
to  run  away  with  us  in  studying  these  ecclesiastical 
disputes,  and  to  imagine  that  all  the  right  and  justice 
were  with  the  Crown,  and  all  the  wrong  and  usurpation 
on  the  side  of  the  Pope.  Like  many  disputes,  there 
was  a  certain  amount  of  right  and  justice  on  each  side  ; 
while  each  party  was  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  wrong. 
The  true  way  to  view  these  disputes  is  as  follows.  The 
Church  then  offered  all  through  Europe  the  only  channel 
by  which  the  lower  and  the  middle  classes  could  rise 
to  an  equality  with  the  nobility.  Once  the  villein's  son 
was  clothed  with  even  minor  orders  and  had  become 
a  sub-deacon,  the  sacred  mantle  of  clerical  privileges 
surrounded  him,  and  he  was  freed  at  once  from  the 
degrading  and  cruel  laws  to  which  his  unclerkly  kins- 
men were  subjected.  The  Church  naturally  strove, 
therefore,  to  extend  its  liberties,  and  the  people  sided 
with  the  Church.  The  Crown  as  naturally  strove  to 
restrict  and  narrow  them,  desiring  complete  supremacy 


1  See  Prynne's  Records,  ii.,  286.  A  priest  once  refused  to 
perform  divine  service  during  an  interdict.  King  John  clad 
him  in  a  complete  suit  of  sacerdotal  vestments  made  of  lead, 
flung  him  into  a  dungeon,  and  left  him  there  till  hunger  and 
thirst  put  an  end  to  his  existence.  Many  a  man  gained  a 
reputation  for  martyrdom  on  slighter  grounds. 


230  IRELAND. 

over  all  persons  and  interests  within  its  realm.  Had 
the  Crown  completely  succeeded,  England  might  now 
be  languishing  under  a  despotism  like  that  of  Russia. 
Had  the  Pope  completely  succeeded,  England  might 
have  been  reduced  to  the  condition  of  Naples,  Spain, 
or  the  Papal  States  in  days  gone  by.  Happily  for  us, 
the  struggles  ended  in  a  compromise  which  secured  the 
due  development  of  a  manly,  a  temperate,  and  an 
orderly  freedom.1 

The  ecclesiastical  struggle,  especially  in  the  reign  of 
King  John,  was  marked  in  addition  by  civil  struggles, 
fierce  and  bloody.  In  fact,  the  reigns  of  both  kings, 
Richard  I.  and  John,  were  years  of  civil  war  through- 
out England.  Richard  I.  never  attended  to  England 
at  all.  His  whole  heart  was  in  war,  specially  in  that 
against  the  Saracens.  Richard  I.  was  like  William  III. ; 
neither  cared  one  atom  about  England  save  for  the 
money  he  could  get  out  of  it.  A  monkish  chronicler 
tells  us  how  King  Richard  sold  everything  to  raise 
money  for  these  wars.  He  even  said  that  "  it  was  a 
pity  he  could  not  get  a  buyer  for  London,  else  he  would 
sell  it."  2  The  picture  presented  in  the  chronicles  of 
England  during  this  period  of  thirty  years  from  1190 
to  1 22O  is  something  frightful. 

Here  I  may  refer  to  what  perhaps  for  some  will 
be  a  more  accessible  and  pleasant  source  of  informa- 
tion than  the  annals  of  monasteries,  as  this  subject 
has  been  most  accurately  handled  by  Sir  Walter  Scott 
in  his  "great  novel  of  Ivanhoe,  a  work  which,  alas  ! 
seems  now -heavy  reading  to  a  generation  fed  upon 
the  highly-spiced  novels  current  at  railway  stations, 


1  See  the  preface  to  Roger  de  Hovcden  (Rolls  Series),  t.  i., 
pp.  Ixix-lxxi,  ed.  Stubbs. 

-  Chronic.  Stephen,  Richard  I.,  etc.,  t.  i.,  p.  306. 


AN  EPISCOPAL   VICEROY.  231 


or  the  absurd  fairy  tales  of  a  She  and  Solomon's 
Mines.  Sir  Walter  Scott  never  displayed  greater 
genius  than  when  he  discerned,  as  if  by  intuition,— 
for  he  had  but  few  of  the  helps  we  now  possess, — the 
state  of  England  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century. 
Richard's  reign,  as  depicted  by  the  great  novelist, 
was  bad  enough,  but  John's  reign  was  much  worse 
in  point  of  civil  dissensions.  England  was  in  a  state 
of  disorganization,  and  when  that  was  the  case  we 
might  anticipate  beforehand  that  the  government  of 
Ireland  would  be  completely  neglected.  And  then, 
when  we  come  to  survey  the  facts  of  the  case,  we 
shall  find  our  anticipations  fully  confirmed.  The  dis- 
sensions of  England  were  merely  temporary,  and  w^re 
crushed  out  in  the  long  run  by  the  royal  authority. 
The  dissensions  were  intensified  in  Ireland,  and  became 
chronic,  for  there  the  great  English  nobles  found 
themselves  unchecked  by  any  superior  power,  and 
every  man  did  whatsoever  was  right  in  his  own  eyes. 
Ireland  thus  lost  the  training  and  preparation  for  future 
national  development  which  England  gained  from  the 
Norman  Conquest.  Let  me  expand  this  point  a  little, 
for  if  ever  you  are  to  thread  your  way  through  the 
devious  paths  of  Irish  history,  and  to  gain  any  solid 
useful  lessons  therefrom,  you  must  have  some  general 
principles  to  afford  you  guidance. 

For  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  Norman  Conquest 
of  1066,  the  struggle  between  the  Crown,  the  barons, 
and  the  people  was  unending.  If  you  want  to  see  a 
masterly  resume  of  that  struggle  and  its  effects,  I  would 
refer  you  to  a  document  buried  in  the  depths  of  the  Rolls 
Series — Bishop  Stubbs's  preface  to  the  second  volume 
of  the  Chronicle  of  Benedict  of  Peterborough.  In  that 
preface  that  learned  and  philosophical  historian  shows 


232  IRELAND. 

how    in    God's    providence    the    English    constitution 
was   developed.     First,  there   was    the   foundation   of 
Anglo-Saxon  institutions,  whose  tendency  was  to  self- 
reliance  and  individualism.     Self-reliance  is,  however, 
very  good  only  in   moderation.     When  pushed  to  an 
extreme   it  becomes  fatal    to    corporate   cohesion  and 
growth.     Then  came  the  feudal  system  to  redress  the 
balance.     Listen  to  Dr.  Stubbs'  words,  which  express 
the  matter  much  better  than  I   can: — "The  tendency 
of  all  the  Anglo-Saxon  institutions  was  to  produce  a 
spirit    of   self-dependence ;  that    was    the    strength    of 
the  system.     Its  weakness  was  the  want  of  cohesion, 
which  is  a  necessary  condition  of  particles  incapable 
of  self-restraint  in   the   absence  of  any  external  force 
to  compress  them.     For  such   a  condition  the  federal 
system   was  undoubtedly   the  fitting   cure.      There    is 
much  truth,  though  only  half  the  truth,  in  Mr.  Carlyle's 
observation    that     the     pot-bellied    equanimity   of   the 
Anglo-Saxons    needed    the  drilling   and    discipline    of 
a  century  of  Norman   tyranny.     The    guiding  powers 
by    which    the  machinery    of  feudalism    forced   into    a 
common  mass  all  the    different  interests,   desires,  and 
habits   of  the  disunited   race  was,   however,  only   one 
part    of  its  operation.     The    feudal   system    was  very 
far  from  being    altogether   bad.      The   essence   of   the 
system  was  mutual  fidelity,  and  its  proper  consequence 
the  creation  of  a  corporate  unity,  and  the  recognition 
of  it   by  every  member,  from  the  king  to   the  villein. 
The  bond  was   not   a   voluntary  one,   to   be  taken  up 
and  put  aside   at   pleasure  ;    the   principle  of  cohesion 
was  uniform  throughout  the  mass.      Self-reliance  was 
proved  not  to  be  incompatible  with  order,  mutual  faith, 
and    regard    to   law  ;   and  these  are  indispensable    for 
national    strength    and    national    spirit."     This  extract 


AN   EPISCOPAL    VICEROY.  233 

sets  forth  the  reasons  why  the  feudal  system  succeeded 
in  England  and  why  it  failed  in  Ireland.  In  England 
the  feudal  discipline  lasted  for  a  century,  from  the 
Conqueror  to  Henry  II.  The  hour  and  the  man  then 
came.  Henry  II.  fused  all  the  opposing  elements 
into  one  homogeneous  mass.  In  Ireland  the  same 
feudal  system  was  introduced,  but  there  was  no  pre- 
siding genius  in  the  shape  of  a  monarch  or  a  vigorous 
and  permanent  viceroy  to  seize  the  favourable  moment 
and  fuse  the  contending  forces  when  the  temporary 
discipline  had  done  its  work.  The  great  nobles  had  it 
all  their  own  way.  The  De  Courcys,  the  De  Burghs, 
the  Geraldines,  the  Butlers,  the  De  Lacys,  quarrelled, 
fought,  oppressed  the  people,  defied  the  viceroys, 
despised  the  Crown,  and  never  were  crushed,  as  the 
iron  hand  of  Henry  crushed  the  Anglo  -  Norman 
feudatories  in  England.  To  the  neglect  of  the  Crown, 
to  the  weakness  of  the  viceroys,  to  the  selfish,  foolish 
internecine  struggles  of  the  great  feudatories  of  Ireland, 
its  slow  development  and  its  subsequent  sad  history 
must  historically  be  traced. 

The  quarrels  of  the  Anglo-Norman  nobles  were,  I 
repeat,  the  original  cause  of  English  failure  in  Ireland. 
You  see  I  differ  from  Mr.  Froucle.  He  imputes  all 
Irish  troubles  to  the  unfortunate  Celts ;  I  attribute 
them  rather  to  the  great  Anglo-Norman  nobles.  But 
here  someone  may  come  forward,  whose  ideas  are  all 
modern,  and  who  has  not  had  sufficient  historical  train- 
ing to  recognise  the  fact  that  the  twelfth  was  very 
different  in  every  respect  from  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  raise  an  objection.  How  could  this  have  been  ? 
Surely  if  two  great  peers  nowadays  love  to  quarrel, 
raise  forces,  go  to  war  with  one  another,  besiege 
castles,  and  defy  the  Sovereign,  the  police  and  other 


234  IRELAND. 


forces  of  the  Crown  would  make  short  work  of  them. 
They  completely  forget,  however,  the  different  circum- 
stances of  the  age  concerning  which  we  are  treating  as 
compared  w7ith  those  of  the  times  wherein  we  live.  The 
great  nobles  of  Ireland  were  simply  feudatories  claim- 
ing to  exercise  towards  the  Sovereign  the  same  rights, 
and  paying  to  him  merely  the  same  homage,  as  their 
Sovereign  paid  to  the  King  of  France  for  his  con- 
tinental dominions.  The  Anglo-Norman  nobles  of 
Ireland,  such  as  De  Lacy  in  Meath  and  De  Courcy  in 
Ulster,  claimed  to  be  independent  princes,  with  right 
to  levy  war  and  make  peace  upon  and  with  one  another 
and  with  the  Crown,  not  only  in  virtue  of  their  grants 
from  the  Crown,  but  also  in  consequence  of  their 
succession  to  the  ancient  Celtic  chiefs.  And  the  Crown 
grants  seem  to  sanction  this  view.  Thus  De  Lacy  was 
granted  Meath,  with  all  the  rights  and  powers  that 
the  Melaghlins  possessed  previous  to  the  Conquest ; 
and  these  powers  the  De  Lacys  showed  themselves 
noways  backward  in  exercising.  Let  me  give  you  a 
brief  account  of  two  or  three  of  these  struggles,  as 
specimens  of  all  the  rest. 

The  De  Lacys,  as  I  have  told  you,  were  granted 
Meath  as  a  Palatine  kingdom,  by  Henry  II.  There 
they  erected  Trim  Castle  as  the  seat  of  their  govern- 
ment. That  castle  is  to  this  day  as  fine  a  specimen 
of  Anglo-Norman  architecture  as  exists  anywhere 
within  these  islands,  and  ought  to  be  repaired  and 
maintained  by  the  Board  of  Public  Works  as  a  national 
monument.  And  for  this  simple  but  most  interesting 
reason,  that  it  is  a  Crown  or  Royal  castle.  It  was  erected 
by  the  De  Lacys,  and  was  maintained  by  them  as  their 
seat  of  dominion  till  the  Palatinate  or  Kingdom  of  Meath 
merged  in  the  Crown  by  marriage,  about  the  year 


AN  EPISCOPAL     VICEROY.  235 


1470, x  since  which  period  the  lordship  of  Meath  has 
been  part  of  the  Crown  possessions  in  Ireland,  and  in 
virtue  of  such  lordship  an  annual  quit-rent  of  some 
two  or  three  pounds  was  paid  by  the  Crown  to  the 
bishops  of  Meath  until  disestablishment.  I  have  said 
this  much  about  the  Castle  of  Trim  to  stir  you  up  to 
pay  a  visit  thereto,  and  to  enable  you  to  realize,  when 
standing  there,  how  very  real  and  modern  was  the 
lordship  or  kingdom  of  Meath  and  its  authority.  The 
De  Lacys  gained  this  lordship  by  virtue  of  a  charter 
from  Henry  II.  The  first  lord  of  Meath  was  Hugh 
de  Lacy,  concerning  whom  I  have  already  spoken  some- 
what at  large  as  the  first  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland. 
Hugh  de  Lacy  left  two  sons,  Walter  and  Hugh  de 
Lacy,  who  became  successively  lords  of  Meath.  But 
now  turn  your  attention  for  a  moment  to  another  part 
of  the  county.  The  kingdom  of  Ulster  was  the  one 
part  of  Ireland  which  obstinately  refused  to  submit  to 
Henry  II.  The  Ulster  men  have  ever  been  a  stubborn 
generation.  They  were  stubborn  in  their  opposition 
to  the  Roman  method  of  calculating  Easter  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries.-  They  were  stubborn 
in  their  opposition  to  James  II.  They  were  stubborn 
as  leaders  of  the  Volunteer  movement  of  1782,  and  for 
a  time  as  supporters  of  the  rebellion  of  1798  ;  and  they 
were  stubborn  in  their  opposition  to  the  Anglo-Norman 
invasion  of  1172.  Henry  II.  could  not  himself  attend 
to  the  conquest  of  Ulster.  He  adopted,  therefore,  the 
usual  Norman  policy  as  practised  towards  Wales.  He 
made  a  grant  of  the  earldom  of  Ulster  to  one  of  his 
courtiers,  John  de  Courcy,  and  authorised  him  to  hold 


1  See'\7rtsk  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  51  ;  Irish  Arch.  Miscell., 
vol.  i.,  p.  30. 

-  See  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  p.  161. 


236  IRELAND. 

as  a  palatine  fief  any  lands  he  could  conquer  in  Ulster. 
He  acted  on  land  as  some  civilised  nations  do  still,  and 
as  our  own  did  most  effectively  upon  sea  in  the  last  great 
French  war.  He  issued  letters  of  marque  authorising 
him  to  rob,  plunder,  and  steal  whatever  he  could,  and 
to  hold  as  of  right  whatever  he  could  steal.1  John  de 
Courcy  was  just  the  man  for  this  task.  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  describes  his  appearance  and  character  in 
a  few  vigorous  strokes.  In  person  he  was  of  fair 
complexion,  tall,  with  very  muscular  limbs,  of  large 
size,  very  strongly  made,  of  singular  daring,  and  a 
bold  and  brave  soldier  from  his  youth.  He  had  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Welsh  archdeacon  one  virtue, — he  was  very 
reverential  towards  the  clergy,  and  paid  them  their 
dues  regularly ;  though  in  other  respects  he  confesses 
that  he  was  extremely  parsimonious  and  inconstant. 

The  history  of  the  De  Courcys  is  intimately  bound  up 
with  that  of  a  family  still  amongst  us.  The  Earl  of 
Howth  represents  in  the  direct  line  one  of  the  original 
Anglo-Norman  invaders.  John  de  Courcy  was  brother- 
in-law  to  Sir  Almeric  de  St.  Laurence,  the  founder  of 
the  Howth  family,  and  first  Anglo-Norman  owner  of 
that  beautiful  headland. 

If  you  want  to  read  Irish  history  of  this  period 
turned  into  romance,  you  should  resort  to  Hanmer's 
Chronicle,  where  the  adventures  of  De  Courcy  and  of 
Sir  Almeric,  his  brother-in-law,  are  told  with  all  the 
minuteness  of  detail  which  special  correspondents  now 
bestow  upon  their  descriptions  of  warlike  operations. 


1  When  Henry  III.  could  not  conquer  his  own  brother-in-law, 
Llewellyn,  Prince  of  North  Wales,  he  wrote  to  Ireland  inviting 
adventurers  to  enter  Wales  and  possess  themselves  of  any 
lands  they  were  strong  enough  to  hold.  See  Rymer's  Fa'dcra, 
t.  i.,  p.  200. 


AN  EPISCOPAL   VICEROY.  237 

The  orations  which  these  commanders  addressed  to 
their  troops  on  their  expeditions  into  Ulster,  the  letters 
despatched  to  one  another,  the  very  speeches  which 
Sir  Almeric  made  in  a  battle  when  he  and  all  his  troops 
were  annihilated,  are  set  forth — though  how  the  reporters 
got  them  the  historian  does  not  tell ;  for  though  reporters 
in  our  own  day  have  sometimes  posts  of  danger,  and 
meet  with  some  hard  knocks,  they  never  assuredly  in 
.modern  times  have  been  in  such  danger  as  they  would 
have  been  in  a  battle  between  wild  Irish  kernes  and 
Anglo-Norman  soldiers.  This  much,  however,  we  do 
know  :  John  de  Courcy  with  St.  Laurence's  help  in- 
vaded and  conquered  Louth,  passed  thence  by  Newry 
into  the  county  Down,  and  seized  the  sea  coast  towns 
of  Carlingford  and  Ardglass, — where  the  castles  he 
erected  are  still  to  be  seen,- -and  thence  advanced  to 
Downpatrick,  which  he  seized  after  a  fierce  battle. 
The  north  of  Ireland  as  far  as  Carrickfergus  and  the 
county  Antrim  became  thenceforth  a  regular  Norman 
settlement,  though  beyond  the  limits  of  Down  and 
Antrim  the  authority  of  the  conquerors  did  not  extend. 
The  Earl  of  Ulster  now  set  up  great  state.  He 
made  a  royal  alliance  and  married  Affreca,  a  daughter 
of  the  King  of  Man.1  He  surrounded  himself  with  a 
staff  of  officials,  his  constable,  seneschal,  chamberlain, 
chancellor.  He  coined  money,  and  otherwise  exercised 
all  kingly  rights.  Now  here  in  the  De  Lacys  of  Meath 
and  the  De  Courcys  of  Ulster  we  have  the  elements  of 
disunion  ready  to  hand,  and  accordingly  we  find  that 
during  all  the  opening  years  of  John's  reign,  from  the 
year  1200  onwards,  Ireland  was  distracted  by  the  fierce 
wars  which  raged  between  these  two  factions,  till  at  last 

1  See  Chronicle  of  Man  in  Camden's  Britannia,  p.   1053, 
ed.  1695. 


238  IRELAND. 

De  Courcy  was  seized  by  treachery  at  Downpatrick, 
carried  captive  to  England,  and  lodged  in  the  dungeons 
of  the  Tower  of  London.  : 

But  dissensions  were  not  confined  to  Ulster.  They 
extended  to  the  west  and  south,  to  Connaught  and  to 
Munster  as  well.  William  De  Burgh  was  another 
of  the  lords  lieutenant  sent  by  Henry  II.  He  was 
the  founder  of  the  peerage  of  Clanricarde,  and  the 
root  whence  sprang  the  numerous  families  rejoicing 
in  the  various  names  of  De  Burgh,  Burke,  and 
Bourke.  William  Fitz-Aldelm  de  Burgh — to  give 
him  the  full  name  known  to  ancient  historians — was 
distantly  related  to  the  royal  family.  He  held  the 
post  of  dapifer  or  steward  of  the  household  when 
appointed  constable  or  chief  justiciary  of  Ireland. 
While  occupying  that  office  he  founded  an  institu- 
tion, traces  of  which  still  remain  with  us.  In  de- 
scribing Archbishop  Comyn  I  told  you  about  St. 
Sepulchre's  Liberty,  which  endured  till  the  year  1840. 
But  the  term  "  liberties "  is  still  in  common  use,  as 
applied  to  a  large  district  of  this  city.  And  it  is  most 
exact,  and  embodies,  as  often  current  popular  phrases 
do  embody,  a  great  historical  fact.  We  still  speak  of 
the  Liberties,  and  there  were  two  liberties  in  the  west 
of  Dublin,  the  one  adjoining  the  other.  The  arch- 
bishop's liberty  was  called  St.  Sepulchre's,  or  the 
Liberty  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  it  was  bounded  on 
the  north  and  west  by  the  Liberty  of  St.  Thomas's 
Abbey,  alias  Thomas-Court  or  the  Liberty  of  Donore. 
That  liberty  also  continued  in  active  existence  till  1840. 


1  See  Gilbert's  History  of  the  ]"iceroys  of  Ireland,  p.  60, 
and  chap.  xii.  below,  where  I  treat  of  the  wars  of  Meath  and 
Kildare. 


AN   EPISCOPAL     VICEROY.  239 


The    Abbot    of    Thomas-Court    exercised    jurisdiction 
there  till  the  Reformation,  and  since  the  Reformation 
that     jurisdiction     continued     in    the    family    of     the 
Earl    of    Meath,   to    whom    it    was    granted    upon   the 
dissolution  of  the   monasteries.     St.  Thomas's  Abbey 
was   one   of  the  most   magnificent   monasteries   round 
Dublin.     Its  Chartulary  lies  unprinted  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  though  it  contains  most  valuable  documents — 
unique  of  their  kind — for  early  Anglo-Norman  history; 
yet    the    English    Treasury    will    not    give    money    for 
printing  a  mere  Irish  document.1     And  yet  the  Abbey 
of  St.  Thomas  had  nothing  to  say  to  the  mere  Irish 
natives.     It  was  a  purely  English  or  Norman  institu- 
tion.    It  was  founded  in  honour  of  Thomas  a  Becket, 
after  whom  it  was  called  in  the  year  1 1 77,  when  Car- 
dinal  Vivian   visited    Ireland    to    confirm    the    English 
conquest  by  Papal    authority.     It    was  endowed    with 
abundant   privileges  from  time  to  time,  till  at  last  the 
lord  abbot  claimed  exactly   the   same  rights   over  the 
Liberty  of  Donore  as  the  archbishop  exercised  in  St. 
Sepulchre's."     But  William   DC   Burgh   did   something 
more    than    found    St.    Thomas's    Abbey.       Giraldus 
Cambrensis  was  very  hostile  to  him,  and  painted  his 
character    in    very    dark    colours,    describing    him    as 
treacherous,  crafty,  hypocritical.      "  A  braggart  against 
the  defenceless,  a  flatterer  of  the  rebellious,    he   sub- 
mitted   to    the    powerful,    he   lorded   over  the  humble, 
and,  above  all   things    else,  was  exceedingly  covetous 
of  gold,"   a   metal  in   which,  he  adds,  this   country  of 

1  Mr.  Hardiman  printed  from  it  the  famous  Statute  of 
Kilkenny,  published  in  the  Irish  Archaeological  Series. 

-  The  foundation  charter  of  St.  Thomas's  Abbey  can  be 
seen  in  Leland's  History  of  Ireland,  t.  i.,  p.  127  ;  or  in 
Cliartcc,  Privilegia  et  Immunitates,  p.  2. 


240  IRELAND. 


Ireland  exceedingly  abounds.  William  De  Burgh  was 
a  failure  as  a  Chief  Governor  of  Ireland,  but  he  had  the 
art  of  ingratiating  himself  with  princes,  and  as  the  result 
received  large  grants  in  the  west  of  Ireland,  including 
the  city  of  Limerick,  half  of  Connaught,  excluding  the 
royal  fortress  of  Athlone  and  the  five  cantreds  or  baronies 
adjoining  to  that  town.1  As  soon  as  De  Burgh  found 
himself  in  possession  of  these  vast  grants,  the  origin  of 
the  immense  Clanricarde  estates,  of  which  we  now  hear 
so  much,  he  assumed  the  rights  and  attitude  of  practical 
independence,  and  commenced  a  series  of  quarrels  with 
his  neighbours  and  with  the  viceroys,  which  involved 
the  west  in  the  same  confusion  as  reigned  in  the  north, 
through  the  jealousies  of  the  De  Courcys  and  the  De 
Lacys. 

Let  us  now  hark  back  a  little.  Roderick  O'Conor 
was  King  of  Connaught  and  nominal  King  of  all 
Ireland,  when  Henry  II.  and  Strongbow  conquered 
it.  He  reigned  for  twenty-eight  years,  and  then  his 
sons — following  the  example  set  them  by  the  English 
princes,  the  sons  of  King  Henry  II. — rebelled  against 
their  father  and  improved  upon  their  English  models; 
for  while  King  Henry  conquered  his  rebellious  sons, 
King  Roderick's  sons  conquered  their  father,  and 
in  the  year  1183  immured  him  as  a  monk  in  Cong 
Abbey,  that  beautiful  building  in  which  Lord  Ardilaun 
has  shown  what  taste  and  money,  when  combined,  can 
effect  in  making  a  ruin  beautiful  without  injuring  its 
venerable  and  antiquated  aspect.  Cathal  O'Conor,  or 
O'Conor  of  the  Red  Hand — a  very  fitting  name  in- 
deed for  his  whole  race  and  generation  at  that  time — 


1  See   Reeves  on  the    Townland  Distribution  of  Ireland 
for  an  explanation  of  the  term  "cantred." 


AN  EPISCOPAL    VICEROY.  241 


ascended  his  father's  throne,  and  was  duly  acknow- 
ledged by  the  English  Government,  which  claimed  and 
received  his  homage.  De  Burgh  now  set  an  intrigue 
on  foot  against  Cathal  O'Conor,  stirred  up  his  brothers 
against  him,  lent  them  his  active  assistance,  and  expelled 
Cathal  from  his  dominions.  Cathal  made  treaties  with 
the  De  Lacys  and  the  De  Courcys,  invoking  withal  the 
help  of  the  Viceroy,  which  was  granted,  and  there  in 
the  early  days  of  King  John's  reign  we  see  the  Viceroy 
and  one  party  of  the  O'Conors  fighting  against  De 
Burgh  and  another  party  of  the  O'Conors.1  Could 
any  colony  have  succeeded  under  such  conditions? 
Could  any  country  have  been  organized  and  civilized, 
when  the  parties  who  should  have  been  the  organizers 
were  engaged  in  nothing  else,  save  in  showing  an 
example  of  lawlessness,  rapine,  and  murder,  to  chieftains 
only  too  ready  to  imitate  their  unhappy  models  ?  I 
have  often  remarked  that  it  was  not  the  feudal  system 
that  ruined  Ireland.  Have  I  not  proved  my  case  ? 
Have  I  not  fully  proved  that  the  failure  of  the  feudal 
system  in  Ireland,  and  of  the  English  government 
therein,  arose,  not  from  the  system  itself,  but  arose 
from  the  persons  entrusted  with  the  management  and 
development  of  the  system,  which  never  once  got  the 
fair  chance  which  was  given  to  it  in  England?  But 
now,  you  may  say,  what  was  the  English  Sovereign 
doing  while  Ireland  was  falling  into  this  state  of 
anarchy?  The  answer  is  easy  enough.  King  Richard's 
reign  saw7  the  beginning  of  anarchy,  simply  because  he 
never  bestowed  a  thought  on  Ireland.  His  whole  soul 

1  The  origin  and  progress  of  this  war,  wherein  the  Viceroy, 
the  De  Burghs,  and  the  two  sections  of  the  O'Conors  took  part, 
is  fully  depicted,  from  the  Celtie  side,  in  the  Annals  of  Lough 
Ce,  t.  i.,  pp.  211,  223,  231,  239  (Rolls  Series). 

16 


242  IRELAND. 

was  in  war  either  in  Palestine  or  on  the  Continent,  and 
we  know  that,  even  still,  a  great  war  abroad  always 
diverts  English  attention  from  Irish  troubles;  while  King 
John — even  if  he  had  not  been  such  an  utterly  worthless 
fellow — was  so  fully  occupied  in  his  own  quarrels  with 
the  Pope,  and  his  bishops,  and  his  English  barons,  that 
he  had  scarcely  any  time  to  think  of  the  affairs  of  this 
country.  Occasionally,  indeed,  he  did  bestow  his  at- 
tention upon  Ireland.  He  sent  in  1199,  the  first  year 
of  his  reign,  a  vigorous  Governor  here,  in  the  person 
of  his  illegitimate  brother,  Meyler  Fitz-Henry,  who 
curbed  and  even  conquered  De  Burgh.  In  the  year 
I2IO  he  paid  a  visit  in  person  to  Ireland,  and  marched 
through  the  whole  country,  personally  inspecting  the 
fortresses  from  Carrickfergus  in  the  north,  all  round  by 
Hollywood,  Carlingford,  Trim,  Dublin,  to  Waterford  in 
the  south;  committing,  on  his  departure,  the  government 
of  Ireland  to  the  strongest  and  most  prudent  viceroy 
she  ever  had  in  those  early  times,  John  de  Gray,  Bishop 
of  Norwich,  who  ruled  here  for  three  or  four  years, 
from  1210  to  I2I3.1  That  man's  handiwork  is  still  to 
be  seen  anwngst  us.  All  previous  viceroys  had  been 
mere  soldiers.  John  de  Gray  was  something  more. 


1  King  John  is  sometimes  said  to  have  introduced  English 
laws  into  Ireland  on  the  occasion  of  this  visit.  I  have  already 
shown  that  the  English  common  law  had  been  introduced 
long  before  by  his  father,  Henry  II.  Still  there  is  some  his- 
torical foundation  for  this  tradition,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  quotation  from  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  220, 
No.  1,458.  wherein  King  Henry  III.,  King  John's  son,  thus 
expresses  himself,  in  a  writ,  dated  December  roth,  1226  : — 
' '  The  King  to  the  barons,  knights,  and  free  tenants  of  Leinster. 
When  King  John  went  to  Ireland,  he  took  with  him  men 
expert  in  the  law,  by  whose  counsel,  at  the  instance  of  the 
Irish,  he  ordained  that  English  laws  should  be  in  force  in 
Ireland;  and  left  these  laws  reduced  to  writing,  under  his 
seal,  at  the  Exchequer,  Dublin." 


AN  EPISCOPAL     VICEROY.  243 

He  was  possessed  of  that  knowledge  of  mankind  which 
large  literary  training,  combined  with  a  practical  know- 
ledge of  affairs,  alone  confers.  He  knew  that  the 
sword,  and  the  gallows,  and  prison-houses  alone,  are 
measures  of  destruction,  but  not  of  civilization  and  pros- 
perity. He  believed  in  prevention  rather  than  cure, 
and  he,  accordingly,  erected  strong  fortresses  in  the 
most  exposed  spots,  to  prevent  the  incursions  of  the 
wild  Connaughtmen  upon  the  peaceful  plains  of  Meath 
and  central  Ireland.  He  laid  the  foundations  of 
Dublin  Castle,  he  coined  money  and  encouraged  trade, 
and  he  built  three  great  fortresses,  two  now  in  ruins, 
the  third  still  in  use,  upon  the  most  exposed  spots 
of  the  English  frontier.  These  castles  were  the  for- 
tresses of  Clonmacnois,  ten  miles  below  Athlone  ; 
Randon  or  St.  John's,  ten  miles  above  Athlone  ;  and 
the  Castle  of  Athlone  itself.  Let  me  say  a  few  words 
about  these  castles,  because  they  are  genuine  relics 
of  this  great  episcopal  viceroy.  They  have  often  vin- 
dicated his  wisdom  and  his  foresight  by  withstanding 
many  a  siege,  and  yet,  owing  to  the  narrow  policy 
of  our  railway  companies,  they  are  utterly  unknown  to 
the  crowds  of  our  own  city  of  Dublin,  who  yearly  view 
with  astonishment  the  ruins  of  Conway  and  Carnarvon 
Castles.  Take  Randon  Castle,  or  St.  John's  as  it  is 
usually  called.  I  saw  a  picture  of  it  some  two  years 
ago  in  the  ladies'  newspaper,  77/6'  Onccn,  yet  how  few 
Irishmen  know  one  atom  about  it.  It  is  situated  on 
the  broad  island-studded  waters  of  Lough  Ree.  If  an 
English  railway  company  had  a  lake  twenty  miles  long 
and  five  miles  broad,  within  two  hours'  ride  of  Dublin, 
what  excursions  they  would  organise  thither  all  through 
the  summer  months,  what  commodious  steamers  they 
would  have  plying  thereon.  Yet  we  have  two  great 


244  IRELAND. 


companies  running  trains  three  parts  empty  to  Athlone, 
and  yet  there  is  never  an  effort  made  by  them  to  reveal 
the  beauties  of  Lough  Ree,  and  the  many  archaeological 
and  historical  remains  that  cover  its  shores  and  islands. 
There  you  have  Inis-Cleraun,  or  Quaker  Island  in 
modern  phraseology,  the  seat  of  all  the  wondrous  tales 
told  of  Queen  Maebh,  or  Queen  Mab  of  fairy  renown, 
and  of  her  tragical  death.  There  you  have,  on  the  same 
island,  a  specimen  of  the  real  ancient  Irish  monasteries, 
with  its  cashel  and  its  tiny  square  churches,  founded 
by  St.  Dermot  of  Inis-Cleraun  a  thousand  years  ago. 
Time  would  indeed  fail  me  to  tell  of  all  that  is  to  be 
seen  round  Lough  Ree  in  the  way  of  ancient  ecclesias- 
tical ruins,  because  in  the  centuries  which  followed  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  Lough  Ree  was  a  favourite 
resort  for  the  Irish  hermits,  who  sought  a  solitary  resi- 
dence, like  their  Egyptian  brethren,  for  the  purposes  of 
study  and  devotion.  I  can  only  mention  a  few  of  themf 
leaving  you  to  go  and  explore  them  for  yourselves, 
hampered  though  you  may  be  by  the  stupid,  ignorant 
neglect  of  our  railway  companies,  who  are,  in  very 
deed,  their  own  worst  enemies,  so  far  as  earning  divi- 
dends is  concerned.  If  you  wish,  then,  to  see  the  relics 
of  Celtic  Ireland  round  Lough  Ree,  spend  two  or  three 
days  there  in  a  boat  or  yacht,  camping  on  the  unin- 
habited islands,  wondrously  redolent  with  wild  flowers. 
Visit  Nun's  Island,  Cashel  Hill,  Inis-bofin,  Inchmore, 
All  Saints'  Island,  and  Inis-ainghin  or  Hare  Island. 
Upon  all  of  these  you  will  find  early  Celtic  churches. 
In  some  of  them  you  will  find  beautiful  windows,  rare 
early  crosses,  wagon-roofed  buildings,  retaining  even 
still  the  marks  of  the  wattle  centreings  upon  which  they 
were  raised,  and  Celtic  inscriptions  recalling  the  earliest 
days  of  Irish  Christianity;  and  then  you  will  feel  that 


AN  EPISCOPAL    VICEROY.  245 


there  is,  even  yet,  unexplored  and  unknown  ground, 
where  holidays  may  be  profitably  spent,  within  our 
own  island.  As  practical  hints,  I  may  add  that  a  tent 
should  be  taken  from  Dublin,  boats  can  be  hired  at 
Athlone,  and  that  July,  August,  and  early  September 
are  the  best  months  for  the  exploration  of  the 
Shannon. 

The  Middle  Ages,  too,  have  left  their  mark  upon 
Lough  Ree.  Randon  is  a  point  running  far  out  into 
the  lake  about  half  way  between  Athlone  and  Lanes- 
borough.  It  is  admirably  situated  for  offensive  and 
defensive  purposes,  and  as  such  was  from  the  earliest 
ages  used  by  the  O'Conors,  princes  of  Connaught,  as 
the  site  of  a  strong  dun,  or  fort,  whence  they  could 
with  safety  issue  forth  at  any  moment  to  ravage  the 
rich  lands  of  Meath,  which  lay  temptingly  opposite 
to  them.  Many  a  hard  battle  between  the  men  of 
Meath  and  the  men  of  Connaught  has  Lough  Ree 
seen.  Many  a  weapon,  spear,  shield,  sword,  and 
many  a  coracle,  the  evidences  and  remains  of  these 
battles,  lie  now  buried  safe  and  silent  in  its  translu- 
cent depths.1 

The  Bishop  of  Norwich,  John  de  Gray,  came  to  the 
West,  surveying  with  a  masterly  eye  the  state  of  affairs. 
He  saw  the  advantages  of  this  ancient  dun  on  the  Rinn, 
or  point,  and  he  ordered  at  once  the  erection  of  a  large 
castle  on  the  lake  edge.-  He  also  built  an  elegant 


1  See,  for  instance,  the  story  of  a  battle  fought  there  in 
A.D.  1201,  in  Annals  of  LougJi  Ce,  t.  i.,  pp.  221-23. 

•'  The  name  Randon  or  Randown,  by  which  this  fortress  is 
known  to  the  English  chroniclers,  is  a  corruption  of  the  Celtic 
name  Rinnduin,  i.e.',  the  Dun  of  the  Rinn,  or  point,  given  to 
it  in  all  the  Irish  authorities.  See  O'Donovan's  edition  of  the 
Annals  of  t  lie  Four  Masters,  note  on  A.D.  1199,  and  his 
Roscommon  Letters  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  where  he 


246  IRELAND. 


Norman  church  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  from  the 
castle,  and  constructed  a  series  of  fortifications  where 
the  point  joins  the  mainland,  constituting  the  whole 
peninsula  one  vast  fortress.  He  then  handed  it  over 
to  the  great  religious  order  of  the  Knights  Hospi- 
tallers, who  made  it  into  a  preceptory,  where  these 
priestly  knights  watched  and  prayed,  and  at  the  same 
time  exercised  stern  control  over  the  wild  neigh- 
bouring tribes  of  the  O'Kellys  and  the  O'Conors. 
This  fortress  of  Randon,  or  St.  John's,  continued 
to  be  one  of  the  great  English  fortresses  till  the  year 
1600  or  thereabouts,  when  it  was  handed  over  with 
some  grants  of  land  to  a  private  family  called  Povey.1 

gives  all  the  traditions  concerning  Randown  as  he  found  them 
more  than  half  a  century  ago,  before  the  knowledge  of  the 
Irish  tongue  had  vanished  from  the  district  as  it  has  now. 
A  couple  of  years  ago  I  was  wandering  on  the  shore  near 
Randon  and  Inis-Cleraun.  I  asked  an  old  woman  did  she 
know  the  Irish  name  of  the  latter  island.  She  replied  in  the 
negative,  telling  me  she  had  no  knowledge  of  Irish,  though 
her  father  spoke  it.  Cf.  also  an  interesting  article  by  Dr. 
Petrie  in  the  Dublin  Penny  Journal  of  1840,  No.  10,  pp. 

73-5- 

1  See  Patents  of  James  I.,  p.  557,  A.D.  1619.  The  ruins  of 
Randon,  or  St.  John,  as  it  is  popularly  now  called,  are  well 
worth  investigation,  as  showing  more  completely  than  any 
others  in  Ireland  the  plan  of  a  preceptory  of  the  Hospitallers. 
O' Donovan  has  very  fully  described  them  in  his  letters,  to 
which  I  have  already  referred.  There  is  first  a  formidable 
wall  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and  twelve  feet  high,  furnished 
with  towers  at  short  intervals  and  with  a  fine  fortified  gateway. 
This  cuts  off  the  peninsula  from  the  mainland.  Next  comes 
the  church,  then  the  central  fortress  and  keep  encircled  by 
a  moat,  while  farther  out,  in  the  centre  of  a  dense  thicket, 
stands  a  curious  lofty  building,  which  may  have  formed  a 
watch-tower  whence  a  perpetual  outlook  was  maintained. 
The  fortified  wall  was  probably  built  in  the  year  1251,  when 
we  find  an  order  issued  by  Henry  III.  to  enclose  the  vills  of 
Atlilone  and  Rendun,  and  repair  their  castles.  See  Sweet- 
man's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  469,  No.  3159.  The  name  Randon 
is  otherwise  written  by  the  Anglo-Norman  scribes  Randown, 


AN  EPISCOPAL     VICEROY.  247 

But  all  through  the  intervening  four  centuries  it  was  a 
great  stronghold.  In  the  Irish  documents  preserved 
in  the  Tower  of  London  frequent  mention  is  made  of 
Randon,  of  money  for  its  repairs,  provisions  for  the 
garrison,  and  above  all  we  find  entries  of  numerous 
hogsheads  of  wine  forwarded  for  their  consumption, 
proving  that  in  those  halls,  which  now  lie  ruinous, 
with  a  peasant's  cabin  built  beside  and  out  of  them, 
and  pigs  and  cattle,  cocks  and  hens  running  riot  where 
wardens  watched  and  knights  ruled,  the  luxuries  of  life 
were  not  neglected,  and  the  wines  of  Burgundy  and  of 
Gascony  were  matters  of  daily  use. 

The  Bishop  of  Norwich  erected  two  other  castles, 
effectually  cutting  off  the  Con  naught  men  from  Meath, 
and  compelling  order  far  away  amid  the  tribes  of  the 
distant  West.  Athlone  Castle  is  still  in  daily  use. 
After  sustaining  numberless  sieges  it  has  been  modern- 
ized, and  now  Armstrong  guns  of  the  newest  type 
frown  from  its  walls ;  yet  still  we  find  in  that  castle 
abundant  remains  of  our  episcopal  viceroy's  work.  The 
central  keep  and  the  eastern  curtain, — where  the  ancient 
water-gate  can  still  be  traced, — and  the  whole  main 
structure  are  due  to  him.  While  if  we  proceed  ten 
miles  lower  down  the  Shannon  you  can  still  see  the 


Reindon,  Reddon,  Randoon,  and  Rawdon.  See  I.e.,  Index. 
Near  Randon,  on  the  shores  of  the  lake,  there  stand  the  exten- 
sive ruins  of  Kilmore,  the  mansion  house  of  Sir  James  Shaen, 
showing  what  the  residences  of  the  ancient  Celtic  gentry  of 
the  seventeenth  century  were  like.  It  was  inhabited  till  the 
year  1731,  as  I  find  in  Pue's  Occurrences  of  that  year  an 
advertisement  of  the  lands  and  mansion  of  Kilmore.  There 
were  twelve  acres  of  gardens  and  orchards,  stabling  for  forty 
horses,  with  large  malthouse,  brewhouse,  pigeon-house,  and 
barns.  They  are  now  in  ruins.  The  Shaens  were  a  leading 
Celtic  family  of  Longford.  The  first  Sir  Arthur  Shaen  was 
made  a  knight  by  Queen  Elizabeth. 


248  IRELAND. 


ruins  of  the  ancient  Castle  of  Clonmacnois,  which  was 
built  by  him  at  the  very  same  time.1  That  castle  is  a 
wonderful  specimen  of  the  strength,  the  massive  and 
solid  character  of  these  mediaeval  buildings.  Many 
of  us  have  seen  and  wondered  at  the  strength  of  the 
Castle  of  Heidelberg,  where  massive  towers  remain 
intact  as  French  powder  displaced  but  could  not  destroy 
them  more  than  two  centuries  ago.  You  can  see  the 
same  phenomenon  at  Clonmacnois.  The  Republican 
soldiers  of  Cromwell  tried  to  blow  up  that  castle  and 
failed,  as  the  French  failed  at  Heidelberg.  They  merely 
split  the  massive  structure,  fractured  the  towers  and 
drove  them  out  of  the  perpendicular,  in  which  position 
they  stand  to  this  day,  after  two  centuries  and  a  half  of 
Western  storm  and  rain  ;  a  testimony  that  the  jerry- 
builder  did  not  exist  among  the  Anglo-Normans,  or 
that  if  he  did  he  did  not  attempt  to  palm  off  his  work 
upon  John  de  Gray,  Bishop  of  Norwich  and  Justiciary 
of  Ireland.  It  was  a  curious  fact  about  both  these 
castles  of  Athlone  and  Clonmacnois  that  they  were 
built  on  ecclesiastical  ground.  In  the  Athlone  case  they 
were  built  upon  the  lands  of  the  Benedictine  Abbey 
of  St.  Peter  ;  in  the  Clonmacnois  case  they  were 
built  upon  the  bishop's  land  ;  and  in  both  cases  the 
Crown  and  viceroy  took  scrupulous  care  to  recompense 
the  ecclesiastical  potentates  whose  territories  were  in- 
vaded for  the  purposes  of  State.  The  Prior  of  Athlone 
was  assigned  four  cantreds  of  land  in  the  county  West- 
meath  in  exchange  for  the  lands  taken  for  the  purposes 
of  fortification ;  while  in  the  case  of  the  Bishop  of 
Clonmacnois  we  have  a  writ  still  existing  from  the 


1  The  precise  date  of  its  erection  is  fixed  by  the  Annals  of 
Lough  Cc,  ed.  Hermessy,  t.  i.,  p.  251  (Rolls  Series),  at  the  year 
1214. 


AN  EPISCOPAL    VICEROY.  249 


King  to  his  officials  in  Ireland,  dated  May  3Oth,  1216, 
ordering  them  to  compensate  the  Bishop  for  his  lands 
occupied  in  fortifying  the  Castle  of  Clonmacnois,  for 
his  fruit  trees  cut  down,  his  cows,  horses,  oxen,  and 
household  utensils  taken  away;  so  careful  was  the  State 
at  that  time  in  dealing  with  ecclesiastical  property.1 

John  de  Gray's  rule  in  Ireland  lasted  less  than  four 
complete  years,  and  left  its  mark  on  the  secular  far 
more  than  on  the  ecclesiastical  side  of  our  history.2 
He  was  a  bishop,  indeed,  but  he  was  a  bishop  such  as 
that  age  and  the  Anglo-Norman  system  produced,  and 
for  ages  continued  to  produce.  He  was  far  more  of  a 
statesman  than  of  a  divine  or  pastor  of  souls.  In  fact, 
years  before  this  the  Pope  refused  to  make  him  Primate 
of  England  because  his  character  was  so  extremely 
secular.  The  impartial  historian  must  indeed  acknow- 
ledge that  the  Pope  had  on  his  side  as  against  the  King 
all  the  really  spiritual  and  religious  minds  of  his  time. 
The  King  wished  to  use  bishoprics  and  Church  livings 
as  rewards  for  statesmen  and  for  lawyers.  The  Church 
and  the  Pope  claimed  them  as  the  provision  for  spiritual 
work  and  pastoral  devotion.  John  de  Gray  took  the 
King's  side.  He  was  an  able  ruler.  He  was  a  born 
statesman.  He  stood  by  the  King  all  through  his 
struggle  with  the  Pope,  braving  all  the  terrors  of  the 
interdict  and  of  excommunication  ;  and  though  he  ma}- 
not  have  been  a  typical  pastor  of  souls,  he  bestowed 
upon  Ireland  what  she  seldom  enjoyed  in  those  years 


1  See  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  106,  No.  693  ;  p.  107, 
No.  694. 

-  John  de  Gray  was  Justiciary  from  1210  (see  Matthew  Paris' 
Historia  Aiig'lorum,  t.  ii.,  p.  122,  Rolls  Series)  to  July 
1213  (see  Sweetman's  I.e.,  p.  75,  No.  466),  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Archbishop  Henry  de  Londres,  who  combined 
the  two  offices  of  Archbishop  and  Justiciary. 


250  IRELAND. 

of  John's  troubled  reign,  a  period  of  resolute  and  vigor- 
ous government,  when  the  wild  but  proud  feudal  baron 
was  duly  restrained  by  the  conjoint  forces  of  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authority,  and  peace  and  tranquillity  shed 
a  transient  ray  upon  a  land  too  seldom  visited  by  their 
kindly  and  healing  beams. 


LECTURE  XI. 

ARCHBISHOP   HENRY   OF  LONDON    AND     ST. 
PA  TRICK' S  CA  THEDRA  L . 

I  HAVE  in  this  lecture  to  introduce  to  your  notice 
a  typical  Anglo-Norman  archbishop,  whose  life 
sheds  light  on  many  a  puzzling  problem  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  John  Comyn  was  the  first  Anglo-Norman 
Archbishop  of  Dublin.  He  was  in  deacon's  orders 
merely  when  promoted  to  the  Archbishopric  of  Dublin. 
He  ruled  this  diocese  for  thirty  years,  and  then  ceased 
from  his  labours.  He  died  October  25th,  1212,  and 
the  vacancy  was  soon  filled,  because  we  know  from 
original  State  documents  still  in  existence  (Rot.  Litt. 
Pat.,  p.  97),  that  on  March  5th  of  the  year  1213,  Henry 
of  London,  or,  as  he  was  then  called,  Henri  de  Londres, 
had  been  elected  and  confirmed  in  the  archbishopric,  but 
was  not  as  yet  consecrated.1  His  predecessor  had  been 
a  deacon  when  elected  to  the  archbishopric,  Henri  de 
Londres  was  an  archdeacon  when  promoted  to  the 
same  high  office.  But  in  all  probability  he  was  only  in 


1  Episcopal  and  abbatial  elections  were  then  usually  con- 
ducted at  the  King's  Court,  and  under  royal  direction,  by 
deputations  from  the  chapters,  who  merely  registered  the  royal 
will.  Luke,  Archbishop  Henry's  successor,  was  elected  by 
two  members  of  St.  Patrick's  Chapter  present  in  London 
(Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  No.  1652),  so  complete  was 
royal  supremacy  in  the  Middle  Ages.  See  Bishop  Stubbs's 
preface  to  Roger  de  Hovedcn,  t.  i.,  pp.  xix,  xx  (Rolls  Series). 


252  IRELAND. 

deacon's  orders,  as  men  with  powerful  interest  were 
often  appointed  to  the  post  of  archdeacon  when  mere 
boys,  and  then  went  to  the  University  of  Paris  to  study 
canon  and  civil  law,  and  thus  qualify  for  the  office  held 
by  them.  This  abuse  lasted  in  Ireland  till  after  the 
Reformation.  In  Elrington's  Life  of  Ussher,  p.  1 14, 
we  find  an  account  of  Sir  Adam  Loftus,  Lord  Chancellor 
of  Ireland,  and  the  first  Viscount  Loftus  of  Ely.  He 
obtained  possession  of  the  archdeaconry  of  Glendalough 
in  1594,  though  a  layman.  He  never  took  holy  orders, 
and  yet,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  Primate 
Laud,  Lord  Strafford,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  he 
held  that  ecclesiastical  office  till  his  death  in  1643.  So 
persistent  were  mediaeval  abuses  ! l  I  propose  now  to 
divide,  for  convenience'  sake,  this  lecture  into  three 
portions.  I  shall  first  discuss  the  history  of  Henri  de 
Londres  prior  to  his  consecration,  because  his  story 
is  typical  of  his  times,  and  explains  much  of  the 
religious  failure  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Then  I  shall  treat 
of  his  career  as  an  archbishop  from  an  ecclesiastical 
point  of  view,  and  lastly  describe  him  in  his  secular 
character  as  chief  governor  and  ruler  of  Ireland  at  a 
very  eventful  period. 

First  then  as  to  his  career  prior  to  his  elevation  to 
the  episcopate.  Henri  de  Londres  was  in  his  earlier 
days  simply  a  statesman,  a  lawyer,  and  politician, — very 
like,  indeed,  to  many  of  our  own  ablest  bishops  even 
within  living  memory.  He  was  thoroughly  secular. 
We  can  trace  his  career  step  by  step  for  at  least 
thirteen  years  prior  to  his  elevation  by  the  aid  of  the 
documents  the  English  Treasury  and  English  Record 


1  Cf.    Brewer's    Introduction    to    the    first    volume    of  the 
Works  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,   in  the   Rolls  Series. 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.  253 

Office  have  been  publishing  for  more  than  half  a 
century.  He  belonged  to  that  school  of  statesmen  whom 
Henry  II.  gathered  round  him  and  trained  for  their 
executive,  their  financial,  and  their  judicial  functions. 
If  you  wish  to  see  a  vivid  and  truthful  picture  of  that 
school  of  statesmen,  lawyers,  and  financiers  you  should 
turn  to  Bishop  Stubbs'  last  volume,  entitled  Lectures  on 
Medieval  and  Modern  History,  and  there  you  will  find  in 
Lectures  VI.  and  VII.  an  account  of  the  men  whom 
Henry  II.  trained  to  carry  out  the  measures  which  lie 
at  the  basis  of  our  modern  Constitution.  John  Comyn 
was  an  active  member  of  Henry  II.'s  select  civil 
servants,  and  according  to  some  (Foss's  Judges  of 
England,  for  instance,  ii.,  90),  Henry  of  London  was 
another,  as  they  identify  him  with  a  Henry  of  London 
whom  the  Chief  Justiciary  sent,  about  the  year  1170,  to 
collect  the  rents  of  the  vacant  See  of  Chichester,  and 
lodge  them  in  the  King's  Treasury.  I  do  not  think, 
however,  that  we  can  trace  him  so  far  back.  The  mere 
identity  of  name  and  title  proves  but  little.  Henry 
of  London  was  a  description  which  must  have  been 
common  to  many  persons,  even  in  the  civil  service.  Then 
again  reflect  on  the  vast  distance  of  time.  A  trusty 
agent  to  collect  rents  for  the  Treasury  could  scarcely 
have  been  under  twenty-five  at  the  time.  Let  us 
suppose  him  twenty-five  in  1170.  He  was  consecrated 
Archbishop  of  Dublin  in  1213,  that  is  forty-three  years 
after.  I  can  scarcely  think  that  King  John  would  have 
selected  so  old  a  man  for  such  a  troublesome  post ; 
while,  in  addition,  the  story  I  am  about  to  tell  you  gives 
me  the  idea,  in  its  incessant  toil,  labour,  and  travelling, 
of  a  much  younger  man. 

We  first  distinctly  come  across  Henry  of  London,  the 
second  Anglo-Norman  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  in  the  first 


254  IRELAND. 

year  of  King  John,  which  began  with  Ascension  Day 
1199,  when  he  was  acting  as  an  itinerant  justice  in 
Berkshire,  in  accordance  with  that  wise  system  which 
Henry  II.  established,  and  which  still  exists  in  the  Assize 
Courts,  bringing  justice  home  to  every  man's  door,  or  at 
least  to  every  man's  county  town  ;  while  again  in  1207- 
I2IO  he  appears  as  a  regular  Justice  of  the  King's 
Bench  at  Westminster.1  He  was,  then,  a  lawyer,  as  all 
archdeacons  were  at  that  period ;  for  the  Church  has 
this  proud  pre-eminence  over  our  legal  brethren,  that 
the  legal  profession  has  been  developed  out  of  the 
clerical.  The  only  lawyers  originally  were  the  clergy,  as 
the  very  dress  of  the  judges,  with  their  copes  and  other 
ecclesiastical  vestments,  abundantly  testifies.2  From  the 
first  year  of  King  John,  Henry,  Archdeacon  of  Stafford — 
for  that  was  his  archdeaconry —frequently  appears  in 
the  original  records  of  the  time.  From  them  we  get  a 
complete  picture  of  our  own  Archbishop's  life.  He  was 
evidently  one  of  King  John's  most  trusted  officials. 
King  John  was  an  extraordinary  character.  He  was 
mean  and  depraved  in  his  private  tastes,  and  his  familiar 
friends  and  associates  were  of  the  lowest  type ;  but  he 
knew  how  to  pick  out  able  and  fit  instruments  for  his 


1  See  Foss's  Judges  of  England,  t.  ii.,  p.  go.  Since  I  wrote 
this  lecture  I  have  found  the  Archdeacon  mentioned  in  a  still 
earlier  record,  of  1194.  Cf.  Rotuli  Curice  Regis ,  ed.  Palgrave, 
pp.  3,  55,  which  will  again  come  before  us. 

-  See  Mr.  Brewer's  words  in  his  preface  to  Alonionenta 
Franciscana  (Rolls  Series),  pp.  xlix,  1 : — "  Hitherto  logic  and 
law  had  absorbed  the  industry  and  genius  of  the  age.  From 
the  accession  of  the  Angevin  dynasty  the  law  formed  the  great 
passport  to  dignity  and  emolument.  The  great  law  officers 
of  the  Crown  were  entirely  selected  from  the  canonists. 
Bishops,  deans,  and  abbots,  beneficed  and  unbeneficed  clergy, 
strove  with  might  and  main  to  obtain  political  appointments  ; 
where  solicitation  and  court  favour  failed,  bribery  paved  the 
way  for  the  suitor's  wishes." 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.      255 

public    business.      Thus    the    Archdeacon    of  Stafford 
appears  in  the  most  various  capacities.     He  was  fre- 
quently sent  on   important   embassies.     In   November 
1 20 1  he  was  sent  to  Spain  as  ambassador  to  the  King 
of  Navarre  j1  in  1204  he  was  despatched  into  Ireland 
to  negotiate  with  Cathal  O'Conor,  King  of  Connaught ; 
and  in  1209"  he  went  to  treat  with  the  Emperor  Otho 
and  the  magnates  of  Germany.     King  John  paid  him 
for  his  services  in  Church  livings,  which  were   simply 
heaped   upon  him.     He    was   Archdeacon   of  Stafford 
when  John  came  to  the  throne.     In  May  1202  he  was 
rewarded  for  his  services  in  Spain  by  his  appointment 
to  the  living  of  Cheshunt  in  the  diocese    of  London, 
together  with  another  in   the  diocese  of  Norwich.     In 
February  1204  he  obtained  an  additional  living  in  the 
diocese  of  Coventry ;  and  yet,  though  he  now  possessed 
at  least   three   livings  and  an  archdeaconry,  the  King 
called   him   from   his  parochial  work  to   act,  the   very 
next  month,  March  26th,  1204,  as  a  judge  in  an  Irish 
suit  depending  between  Meyler  Fitz-Henry,  the  Viceroy, 
and  Walter  de  Lacy,  the  Lord  of  Meath.      In  December 
1205   he  received   two    more    livings,  one  a  prebendal 
stall   in  Bridgenorth  Collegiate  Church,  and  the  other 
the  rectory  of  Werfeld,  in  Chester  diocese.      But  this 
was  not  all,  or  nearly  all. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  1207,  he  got  a  prebend  in 
Exeter  Cathedral,  followed,  on  December  2/th  of  the 
same  year,  by  another  prebend  in  Lincoln.  1  le  seems 
to  have  acted  out  most  thoroughly  the  principle  of 
holding  everything  and  resigning  nothing,  or  next  to 
nothing.  He  seems,  indeed,  never  to  have  resigned 

1  Rotuli  Litterarum  Patentium,  vol.    i.,    p.  3,  ed.    T.   D. 
Hardy  (London,  1835). 
•  Rot.  Lift.  Pat.,  p.  91. 


256  IRELAND. 


anything  he  once  obtained,  save  the  stall  at  Bridge- 
north,  which  he  vacated  in  March  I2O8.1  We  must 
suppose  that  its  emoluments  did  not  cover  the  expenses 
which  it  entailed.  But  he  soon  made  up  the  loss, 
for  we  find  him  appointed  immediately  afterwards  to 
the  deanery  of  the  collegiate  church  of  Stafford.  The 
King  next  tried,  in  1210,  to  have  him  consecrated  as 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  but  the  existence  of  the  interdict 
prevented  the  accomplishment  of  his  wishes.2  John, 
however,  did  all  he  could  for  the  Archdeacon,  by  com- 
mitting to  his  custody  the  temporal  possessions  and 
estates  of  that  See,  on  June  4th,  A.D.  1212,  at  which 
period  he  must  have  held  an  enormous  amount  of 
Church  patronage.  There  were  rolled  into  his  one 
personality  one  deanery  if  not  two, — for  he  seems  to 
have  been  Dean  of  Shrewsbury  as  well  as  of  Stafford, — 
an  archdeaconry,  four  or  five  cathedral  stalls,  and  some 
five  or  six  livings.  What  dreams  of  preferment  must 
have  dawned  on  expectant  eyes  when  they  heard  of  his 
higher  promotion !  And  that  higher  promotion  soon 
came,  for  we  find  him  in  the  early  months  of  1213 
Archbishop  of  Dublin.  But  here  you  may  ask,  If  the 
bishopric  of  Exeter  could  not  be  filled  up  on  account  of 
the  interdict,  how  could  he  have  been  consecrated  to 
the  archbishopric  ?  The  solution  of  this  difficulty  is  easy 
enough.  The  interdict  did  not  apply  to  the  whole  of 
John's  dominions.  It  was  purely  local.  Ireland  was  not 
included  in  it,  and  there  or  in  France  the  Archdeacon  of 
Stafford  could  easily  obtain  the  consecration  he  required.3 


1  This  pluralist  archdeacon's  cursus  honor um  can  be  accu- 
rately traced  in  the  Rot.  Lift.  Pat.,  ed.  Hardy,  already  quoted. 

-  Matthew  Paris,  Chronica  Jfujora,  t.  ii.,  p.  531  (Rolls 
Series). 

3  Hugh,   Archdeacon  of  Wells,  elected  Bishop  of  Lincoln 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.       257 


Who  his  consecrators  were  we  know  not,  nor  where 
was  the  place  of  his  consecration.  Serious  questions 
have  been  raised  about  the  validity  of  English  orders 
and  the  due  transmission  of  the  English  succession, 
because  no  documents  exist  with  reference  to  the  con- 
secration of  one  of  Parker's  consecrators.  But  if  the 
non-existence  or  disappearance  of  documents  be  a  valid 
ground  of  objection,  it  will  be  impossible  to  prove  the 
validity  of  any  orders  at  all  in  universal  Christendom, 
for  the  records  of  the  vast  majority  of  episcopal  con- 
secrations have  utterly  disappeared. 

The  Archbishop  may  have  been  consecrated  in 
Ireland.  He  was  an  old  traveller,  and  a  trip  to 
Dublin  would  be  little  regarded  by  one  who  had  a 
few  years  before  penetrated  the  bogs  and  woods  of 
Connaught.  At  any  rate,  he  was  well  qualified  by 
experience  for  the  work  cut  out  for  him.  The  Anglo- 
Norman  Archbishops  were  primarily  intended  to  be  the 
king's  chief  agents  in  ruling  Ireland.  When  they  were 
not  actually  viceroys,  they  were  to  be  the  viceroy's 
chief  advisers  and  spies  upon  his  conduct.  Archbishop 
Henry  had  ample  qualifications  for  his  duties.  He  was 
a  thorough  lawyer,  he  was  a  trained  diplomatist,  he  was 
an  old  treasury  official,1  and  he  knew  Ireland  and  Irish 
affairs  both  practically  and  theoretically.  Well  would 
it  have  been  for  English  rule  in  Ireland  had  English 
sovereigns  always  sent  as  experienced  a  statesman  to 

when  Henry  was  chosen,  three  years  before,  for  Exeter,  obtained 
the  royal  leave  to  cross  into  Normandy  for  consecration  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Rouen  ;  England  being  then  under  the  inter- 
dict. See  Matthew  Paris'  Hist.  Auglorum,  t.  ii.,  p.  120,  and 
Chron.  Maj.,  ii.,  528  (Rolls  Series).  Hugh,  though  he  had 
been  the  royal  chancellor,  played  a  trick  on  King  John  which 
may  have  prevented  him  sending  the  Archdeacon  of  Stafford 
to  Normandy  for  consecration  as  Bishop  of  Exeter. 
1  Rot.  Pat.  Litt.,  Pref.,  p.  xxxvi. 

17 


258  IRELAND. 

manage  her  secular  business  as  that  prelate  was  to 
whom  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the  diocese  of  Dublin 
were  now  committed. 

The  second  part  of  this  lecture  deals  with  Archbishop 
Henry  as  he  was  an  ecclesiastic,  that  is,  as  a  bishop, 
because  his  career  as  an  archdeacon  was  not  ecclesiastical 
at  all,  but  purely  secular. 

Archbishop  Henry  delayed  some  months  after  his 
consecration  winding  up  his  affairs  in  England,  and 
then  proceeded  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  1213,  to 
Ireland,  where  he  spent  some  eighteen  months.  During 
that  period  he  .was  Justiciary  and  Chief  Governor  of 
Ireland.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  now,  after  more  than 
six  centuries  have  elapsed,  we  can  trace  his  actions 
by  the  help  of  the  original  documents  existing  in 
our  various  record  repositories.  The  English  record 
system  stands  by  itself  in  Europe  in  this  respect.  No 
other  nation  has  such  a  copious  store  of  original  matter 
for  history.  The  Vatican  itself,  where  one  would  expect 
that  a  government  of  clerks  or  clergymen  would  have  the 
richest  store  of  documents,  equals  not  the  English  and 
Irish  records.  The  late  Cardinal  Cullen  had  experience 
of  an  interesting  illustration  of  that  fact.  He  thought 
he  would  establish  the  ancient  rule  of  Rome  over  Ireland 
by  the  production  of  original  documents  out  of  the 
Vatican,  proving  its  subjection  to  Papal  authority  from 
the  earliest  periods.  The  late  Pope  consented,  and 
Theiner,  the  Vatican  librarian,  produced  a  volume  some 
twenty-five  years  ago,  which  exists  in  our  library;  and 
what  do  we  find  ?  It  contains  all  the  early  Irish  docu- 
ments in  the  Vatican,  and  yet  the  earliest  document 
now  in  the  Vatican  relating  to  Ireland  or  Irish  affairs  is 
dated  1218,  or  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III., 
and  is  actually  a  bull  commanding  the  kings,  princes, 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.       259 


barons,  and  people  of  Ireland  to  be  subject  to  the  King 
of  England,  on  pain  of  excommunication  if  they  were 
disobedient.  Why  !  The  records  preserved  in  Christ 
Church  Cathedral,  in  the  Record  Office,  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  and  by  myself  in  Marsh's  Library, 
could  supply  many  Papal  bulls  and  documents  of  a 
much  earlier  date,  not  to  speak  of  the  documents  pre- 
served in  the  English  Record  Offices.  Our  early 
archives  give  us  some  interesting  glimpses  of  Arch- 
bishop Henry.  We  get,  for  instance,  a  hint  of  his 
personal  tastes  and  habits.  He  was  evidently  a  sport- 
ing prelate,  and  devoted  to  hunting.1  When,  therefore, 
he  was  thinking  of  going  over  to  his  diocese  he  wished 
to  improve  the  breed  of  deer  which  then  coursed  far  and 
wide  among  the  forests  which  covered  his  lands  in  the 
Dublin  Mountains,  up  the  beautiful  valley  of  Glenasmoel, 
along  the  slopes  of  Kippure  and  Glencree,  and  round 
by  Glencullen,  Shankhill,  and  Shanganagh.  Accord- 
ingly we  find  that  at  the  end  of  July  1213  he  obtained 
an  order  from  King  John  to  the  guardians  of  the  See  of 
Coventry,  then  vacant,  to  supply  our  Archbishop  with 
thirty  fallow  deer  out  of  the  park  of  Brewood,  and  to 
lend  him  their  aid  in  catching  them.2  The  worthy  pre- 

1  The  sporting  clergy  of  the  nineteenth  century  could  plead 
high  authority  in  their  defence  from  later  times  than  those  ol 
Archbishop  Henry.     Archbishop  Abbot  of  Canterbury,  in  the 
time  of  James  I.,  puritanical  in  doctrine  though  he  was,  used 
to  hunt,  and  accidentally  killed  a  man  in  the  course  of  his 
amusement.      Bishop  Juxon  kept  a  pack  of  hounds  "which 
exceeded  all  other  hounds  in  England  for  the  pleasure  and 
orderly  hunting  of  them."     Bishop  Seth  Ward,  of  Exeter,  was 
devoted   to   the   hunting  field.      See   Overton's  Life  in    the 
English  Church,  p.  313. 

2  The  Dublin  archbishops  seem  to  have  been  very  fond  of 
crossing  the  breed  of  their  deer.     See  examples  of  royal  gifts 
of  English  deer  to  them  in  Sweetman's  Calendar,   t.  i.,  Nos. 
477,   2,124,  3.123. 


260  IRELAND. 


late  seems  indeed  to  have  been  devoted  to  sport ;  at  any 
rate,  he  was  tenacious  of  his  claims  in  this  respect,  for 
he  was  continually  getting  into  trouble  with  the  King 
and  his  servants  about  his  hunting  rights.  There  were 
great  forests  then  all  round  Dublin,  the  memory  of 
which  is  still  kept  up  in  the  name  of  one  of  our  suburbs, 
Cullenswood.  Cullenswood  Square  and  Cullenswood 
Avenue  show  to  this  day  where  the  Archbishop's  wood  of 
Cullen  existed,  running  up  to  the  very  fields,  and  gardens, 
and  walls  of  his  episcopal  residence  of  St.  Sepulchre.  The 
King  too  had  his  own  royal  forests  here  in  Ireland,  where 
he  could  hunt  whenever  he  or  his  officials  wished  to  do 
so.  There  was  no  Phcenix  Park  then,  or,  at  least,  there 
was  no  royal  residence  in  the  Phcenix  Park  ;  for  the 
Park  then  formed  a  part  of  the  lands  belonging  to  the 
Knights  Templar  of  Kilmainham,  where  those  military 
ecclesiastics  hunted  their  own  deer.  But  the  King 
claimed  a  forest  which  stretched  up  the  wild  valley  of 
Glencullen,  and  thus  adjoined  the  episcopal  forests, 
which  extended  over  the  mountains  far  down  into 
Wicklow.  The  limits  of  forests  are  at  all  times  very 
hard  to  define,  and  as  the  natural  result  the  King's 
foresters  and  keepers  often  came  into  collision  with 
the  Archbishop's  men.  We  have,  a  few  years  later, 
an  interesting  illustration  of  the  quarrels  arising  out  of 
these  various  jurisdictions.  Let  me  tell  you  the  story, 
for  it  is  a  most  interesting  and  even  amusing  one.  It 
happened  some  seven  years  after  the  Archbishop's 
consecration — that  is,  in  January,  1220.  The  King 
had  sent  over  a  certain  Thomas  Fitz-Adam  as  keeper 
of  the  King's  forest,  with  great  magisterial  power. 
The  Archbishop  had  been  now  seven  years  or  more 
ruling  over  his  See.  He  had  been  to  the  great  Lateran 
Council  of  1216,  had  been  made  Papal  Legate  for 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.      261 


Ireland,  and  had  consequently  forgotten  a  good  deal 
of  his  old  zeal  for  the  royal  prerogative.  He  had  now 
become  very  zealous  for  clerical  privileges,  because 
they  were  his  own.  He  was  like  some  that  I  have  seen 
and  noted  in  later  years,  who  supported  very  sweeping 
and  radical  measures,  even  of  confiscation,  until  the 
measures  touched  themselves,  and  then  they  became 
the  most  rabid  and  violent  opponents  of  such  legislation  • 
or  like  others  who  are  the  stoutest  assertors  of  the 
rights  of  presbyters  and  the  boldest  opponents  of  pre- 
latic  authority — till  they  are  made  bishops.  Then  they 
become  the  greatest  prelates  of  all. 

So  was  it  with  Archbishop  Henry  when  the  royal 
claims  and  his  own  liberties  and  customs  came  into 
collision.  We  have  the  story  told  in  two  opposite 
versions.  We  have  the  version  of  Thomas  Fitz-Adam, 
the  chief  forester,  and  that  of  the  Archbishop,  as  both 
parties  at  once  wrote  to  the  King,  and  the  letters  have 
been  published  in  the  Royal  Letters  of  Henry  III. 
in  the  Rolls  Series.  The  keeper  tells  how  that  at  the 
season  of  Epiphany  he  had  been  perambulating  the 
forests  and  seeing  after  the  royal  rights,  when  two 
foresters  or  gamekeepers  had  been  brought  before  him 
shamefully  beaten,  and  with  their  clothes  torn  to  rags. 
They  told  how  that  they  had  been  thinning  out  trees  in 
the  King's  groves,  when  the  Archbishop's  men  came 
upon  them,  and  treated  them  thus.  From  these  wounded 
bailiffs  Fitz-Adam  learned  that  near  the  spot  where  he 
was,  but  within  the  Archbishop's  lands,  there  lived  a 
noted  poacher,  who  for  years  had  been  plundering  the 
King's  game.  The  keeper  marched  to  the  house, 
surrounded  it,  seized  the  poacher,  and  proceeded  to 
search  the  house,  when  he  discovered  ample  proofs 
of  his  poaching  depredations.  He  found  a  bow  and  a 


262  IRELAND. 

bloody  arrow,  the  antlers  of  a  deer,  its  hide,  and  a 
portion  of  its  flesh.  He  arrested  the  culprit,  marched 
him  off,  and  lodged  him  in  gaol.  Then  arose  a  row. 
The  Archbishop  sent  the  Dean  of  Dublin  and  three 
priests  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  prisoner,  as 
being  one  of  his  tenants,  and  subject  therefore  to  his 
jurisdiction  alone.  The  keeper  refused,  whereupon  the 
Archbishop  ordered  all  services  to  be  suspended  on 
the  next  day,  the  festival  of  the  Epiphany,  after  which 
he  excommunicated  the  keeper,  who  still,  however,  held 
on  manfully  to  his  prisoner,  writing  at  the  same  time 
to  the  King  to  complain  of  the  Archbishop's  intolerable 
conduct.  His  letter  is  most  interesting,  for  many 
reasons,  and  specially  so  at  the  present  time,  for  we 
learn  from  it  that  boycotting  was  then  practised,  and 
that  under  all  the  forms  of  law.  The  keeper  com- 
plains to  the  King  that  he  had  been  excommunicated, 
though  the  King's  servants  were  expressly  excluded 
from  the  operation  of  such  sentences  without  the  royal 
assent.1  Still,  he  was  subject  to  all  the  penalties  of 
excommunication.  He  was  persecuted  wherever  he 
went ;  no  one  would  speak  to  him,  or  supply  him  with 
food  and  lodging ;  he  was  shunned  as  a  social  leper, 
and  he  had  been  prevented  holding  the  Hilary  Assizes 
at  Dublin.'2  It  was  a  very  serious  matter  to  incur  the 
wrath  of  the  clergy  in  those  times.  So  much  as  to  the 
Archbishop  and  his  sporting  rights. 

But  let  us  now  return  to  his  earlier  days,  before  he- 
had  become  so  intensely  sacerdotal.  Pie  spent  two 
years  in  Dublin  immersed  in  the  cares  of  Church  and 


1  See  a  bull  of  Gregory  IX.  in  Rymer's  Fa'dcra,  t.  i.,  p.  200, 
on  this  point. 

-  See  several  letters  bearing  on  this  controversy  in  Royal 
Jitters,  Henry  III.,  t.  i.,  pp.  82-90  (Rolls  Series). 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY    OF  LONDON'.  263 

State  before  he  proceeded  to  the  great  Lateran  Council 
which  made  Transubstantiation  a  formal  dogma  of  the 
Christian  faith.  During  that  period  he  consummated 
the  union  of  Dublin  and  Glendalough  dioceses,  which 
have  ever  since  been  ruled  by  the  same  prelate.  The 
last  bishop  and  the  last  abbot  of  Glendalough  verified 
the  old  saying  about  waiting  for  dead  men's  shoes,  — 
they  lived  till  their  expectant  successors  were  well 
tired  out.  The  last  legal  Bishop  of  Glendalough  died  in 
1214.  His  name  was  William  Piro ;  but  still,  though 
he  was  the  last  bishop  recognised  by  the  Pope  and  the 
King,  the  See  of  Glendalough  maintained  a  secret  and 
hidden  existence  in  the  Wicklow  mountains,  and  a 
Celtic  succession  was  preserved  down  to  the  year  1497, 
when,  on  May  3Oth,  Denis  White,  the  last  occupant, 
made  a  formal  surrender  of  the  Glendalough  See  in  the 
Chapter  House  of  St.  Patrick's.  But  you  must  observe 
that  whatever  shadowy  rights  the  nominal  bishops  may 
have  claimed,  the  real  rights  were  possessed  and  en- 
joyed by  the  prelates  recognised  by  the  English  Crown. 
The  See  and  Abbey  of  Glendalough — for  both  were 
added  to  the  See  of  Dublin — involved  vast  landed 
possessions,  which  continued  to  be  episcopal  property 
till  twenty  years  ago.1 


1  The  report  of  the  Established  Church  (Ireland)  Commis- 
sion, 1868,  gives  the  rental  of  the  archiepiscopal  estates  then 
attached  to  Dublin.  The  Wicklow  estates  were  identical  with 
those  which  belonged  to  the  Abbey  and  See  of  Glendalough 
from  am  lent  Celtic  times.  The  Archbishop  held,  for  instance, 
the  Manor  of  Glendalough,  which  alone  contained  34,000 
acres  ;  and  yet  lie  derived  from  such  an  immense  tract  of 
country  an  income  of  but  .£237  gs.  $<{.,  or  not  quite  twopence 
per  acre.  Not  an  exorbitant  rent,  as  the  most  determined 
tenant-righter  will  acknowledge.  The  Bishop  of  Glendalough 
exercised  feudal  powers  over  these  estates,  judging  their 
tenants  according  to  the  Brehon  system  long  before  the 
Ang.Jo-Norman  invasion.  See  an  inquisition  held  at  Castle 


264  IRELAND. 

Archbishop  Henry  marked  his  entry  upon  the  See 
by  a  characteristic  action.  He  was  evidently  not  only 
tenacious  of  his  rights,  he  was  also  very  fond  of  money. 
When  an  archdeacon,  he  never  resigned  any  of  his 
various  Church  livings  upon  his  appointment  to  a  new 
one.  He  seems  to  have  even  retained  when  archbishop 
various  secular  appointments  in  England,  and  the  same 
covetous  tendency  followed  him  to  Ireland,  where  we 
are  told  that  upon  his  arrival  at  St.  Sepulchre,  he  sum- 
moned all  his  tenantry  before  him,  called  upon  them 
to  produce  their  titles,  leases,  and  other  grants  received 
from  his  predecessors.  The  unsuspecting  tenantry, 
anxious  to  gain  their  new  landlord's  goodwill,  diligently 
produced  every  scrap  of  writing  they  possessed,  which 
the  Archbishop  carefully  collected,  and  then  in  his  hall, 
where  a  large  fire  was  burning,  committed  all  the  docu- 
ments to  the  flames  in  view  of  the  despairing  and 
enraged  tenantry,  who  thenceforth  gave  him  the  name 
of  Scorch-Villein,  by  which  designation  the  second 
Anglo-Norman  archbishop  has  since  been  known.1 


Kevin  in  the  thirteenth  century,  printed  in  Gilbert's  Muni- 
cipal Documents,  pp.  151-54.  The  estates  of  this  See  of 
Glendalough  came  in  ancient  times  very  close  to  Dublin.  See 
a  full  description  of  them  in  the  year  1229  in  Sweetman's 
Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  262,  No.  1757  ;  and  an  elaborate  but  very 
inexact  rental  of  them  some  forty  years  later  in  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  t.  v.,  pp.  145-62.  This 
statement  of  the  rents  of  the  See  in  1271  was  made  by  Sir  W. 
Betham  from  the  great  roll  of  the  Pipe.  Mr.  James  Mills, 
of  the  Irish  Record  Office,  has  compared  it  with  the  original, 
and  corrected  some  of  Betham's  mistakes.  Betham  made  out 
that  the  value  of  the  See  was  then  ^2,500  per  annum.  It  was 
in  fact  just  about  ,£1,250.  At  the  death  of  Archbishop  Henry 
the  rental  seems  to  have  been  about  ^600  per  annum,  a  larger 
income  than  the  justiciary  then  enjoyed,  for  he  was  only  paid 
^580  a  year.  See  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  214,  No. 
1413  ;  Rymer's  Fwdera,  t.  i.,  p.  182. 
1  See  Ware's  Bishops,  ed.  Harris,  p.  319,  where  the  story 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.      265 

Archbishop  Henry  marked,  however,  the  early  years 
of  his  episcopate  by  other  measures.  He  enlarged  and 
finished  the  Castle  of  Dublin,  removing  several  churches 
— St.  Martin's,  St.  Paul's,  and  perhaps  St.  Andrew's — 
in  carrying  out  his  design.  The  castle  we  now  see 
gives  but  a  small  idea  of  the  castle  which  our  Arch- 
bishop erected.  Within  the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years 
it  has  been  to  a  great  extent  altered  and  modernized, 
but  if  you  will  look  at  Brooking's  Map  of  Dublin, 
published  early  in  the  last  century,  you  can  see  a  picture 
of  Dublin  Castle  as  it  appeared  in  the  Middle  Ages  fresh 
from  the  hands  of  the  episcopal  builders.1  Archbishop 
Henry  was  in  those  early  days  very  zealous  in  the  King's 
behalf.  He  pulled  down  churches  to  erect  a  royal 
castle  ;  yea,  he  gave  a  greater  proof  of  his  devotion :  he 
spent  his  own  money  in  the  royal  service,  and  King  John 
was  not  forgetful  of  his  diligent  servant.  He  rewarded 
him,  therefore,  not  indeed  out  of  his  own  pocket, — for 
King  John  was  always  very  impecunious ;  but  he  gave 
him  an  English  Church  sinecure,  and  conferred  upon 
him  and  upon  the  See  of  Dublin  for  ever  an  English 
title,  which,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  it  still  possesses.  On 
September  I3th,  1215,^  King  John  bestowed  on  the  See 
of  Dublin  the  advowson  and  manor  of  Penkridge  in 
Staffordshire,  making  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  and  his 
successors  for  ever  deans  of  the  collegiate  church  of 
Penkridge,  a  title  and  manor  which  the  Archbishops  of 
Dublin  used  and  enjoyed  down  to  the  time  of  Arch- 
bishop King  in  the  last  century.  You  will  perhaps  be 
surprised  to  hear  that,  so  lately  as  that  prelate's  time, 

is  told  as  set  forth  in  the  Liber  Niger  of  the  Archbishops  of 
Dublin,  fol.  437  (Marsh's  Library  copy). 

1  There  is  a  copy  of  Brooking's  map  in  the  National  Library, 
Kildare  Street. 

-  Cf.  Sweetman's  Cal.  uf  Doc.,  t.  i.,  p.  100,  No.  652. 


266  IRELAND. 


the  Bishop  of  Lichfield  did  not  attempt  to  visit  that 
church  without  first  applying  to  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin 
for  leave  to  visit  and  confirm  within  his  peculiar  juris- 
diction of  Penkridge.  You  must  observe,  however, 
one  condition  on  which  this  grant  of  the  deanery  of 
Penkridge  was  made.  It  was  expressly  laid  down  in 
this  grant,  witnessed  by  the  Pope's  Legate,  that  it  was 
made  to  the  Archbishops  of  Dublin  "  not  being  Irish- 
men ;  "  a  limitation  which  received  an  additional  illus- 
tration a  year  or  two  later,  when  the  English  court 
sent  an  order  to  all  the  bishops  of  Ireland  that  no 
Irishman  should  be  admitted  to  any  cathedral  prefer- 
ment whatsoever.  From  the  time  of  this  grant  to  the 
Archbishop  Henry  and  his  successors,  the  following 
long  and  portentous  title,  which  is  duly  set  forth  in 
Archbishop  Alan's  Liber  Niger,  has  been  the  correct 
archiepiscopal  style  and  designation  : — "  Henry,  by 
Divine  mercy  Regular  Abbot  of  the  Cathedral  Church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  Bishop  of  St.  Patrick's,  Arch- 
bishop and  Primate  of  the  Irish  Church  by  grace  of 
the  Apostolic  See,  Dean  of  the  free  royal  chapel  of  St. 
Mary's  of  Penkridge,  Prince  Palatine  of  Harold's  Cross, 
Custos  of  the  Suffragan  Sees  when  vacant,  and  Custos 
of  the  spiritual  jurisdiction,  and  of  all  the  tithes  in  the 
same  province  ;  "  in  which  title  you  will  observe  that 
the  monastic  origin  and  character  of  the  early  Irish 
episcopate  are  duly  set  forth.1 


1  See  Liber  Niger  A /am',  fol.  372  (Marsh's  Library  copy). 
The  Archbishop  is  called,  by  Alan,  Abbot  of  the  Cathedral 
of  the  Holy  Trinity.  That  cathedral  was  till  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  governed  by  a  prior.  But  a  prior  implies  an 
abbot,  to  whom  he  is  subordinate.  The  priors  of  Christ  Church 
were  subordinate  to  the  archbishop,  t/m't  abbot,  but  not  </i«i 
bishop,  while  the  deans  of  St.  Patrick's  were  ordinaries  in  their 
cathedral. 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.  267 


Archbishop  Henry  went  to  the  Late  ran  Council  of 
1216  as  the  representative  of  King  John  as  much  as 
in  his  ecclesiastical  character.  He  went  charged  to  win 
the  Pope  over  to  the  King's  side.  John  had  granted 
the  Magna  Charta  under  the  joint  compulsion  of  the 
Church  and  the  barons.  He  wished  now  to  retract  and 
withdraw  it.  I  le  had  sworn  to  it,  indeed,  but  no  oaths 
could  bind  King  John.  He  only  desired  to  see  his  way 
sufficiently  clearly,  and  then  he  would  break  any  com- 
pact, and  to  this  end  he  despatched  the  Archbishop  to 
Pope  Innocent.  Many  circumstances  prove  this.  King 
John  supported  the  Archbishop  when  at  Rome,  pledged 
his  own  credit  and  that  of  his  Crown  for  money  lent 
him,  and  paid  his  expenses  when  he  came  back.  And 
Archbishop  Henry  did  the  King's  work  well.  He 
manipulated  the  Pope  for  the  King's  purpose,  and  we 
therefore  find  that  soon  after  his  return  the  Pope  excom- 
municated the  rebellious  English  barons.  Rome  and 
its  influences  changed  Archbishop  Henry,  however, 
and  after  his  visit  to  the  Council  we  find  him  much  more 
of  an  ecclesiastic  and  much  less  a  man  of  the  world.1 
He  held  a  synod  the  very  next  year,  in  which  he 
inculcated  a  much  stricter  life  upon  the  Irish  clergy,  and 
made  stringent  regulations  about  their  pastoral  duties.1' 
The  higher  ecclesiastical  tone  of  the  Archbishop  is 
marked  by  a  corresponding  assertion  of  its  rights  on  the 

1  Cf.  Sweetman,  Calendar  of  Documents,  t.  i.,  p.  120,  Nos. 
804,  805,  807. 

-The  canons  of  this  synod  are  printed  in  Wilkins'  Concilia, 
t.  i.,  p.  548,  from  the  Crc/ic  jMilii.  They  lay  down  stringent 
regulations  concerning  clerical  celibacy  and  discipline, 
attendance  at  Church  synods,  and  clerical  conduct  when 
going  to  and  returning  from  these  assemblies,  the  visitation 
of  the  sick  on  Sundays  and  holy  days,  with  due  celebration 
of  the  eucharist,  the  celebrant  to  be  clad  in  a  surplice  and 
attended  with  a  cross,  lamp,  and  bell,  carried  by  a  clerk. 


268  IRELAND, 

part  of  the  Crown.  A  striking  instance  of  this  is  found 
in  the  year  1223,  when  Henry  III.  uses  language  with 
respect  to  Papal  jurisdiction  quite  worthy  of  Henry  VIII 
or  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  case  is  an  interesting  one 
A  certain  Nicholas  de  la  Feld  sought  to  recover  in 
the  King's  Bench,  from  the  Abbot  of  St.  Thomas's 
Abbey,  some  lands  which,  as  he  alleged,  belonged  to 
his  family.  The  abbot  disputed  his  claim  by  asserting 
that  the  said  Nicholas  was  illegitimate.  This  assertion 
was  referred,  after  the  roundabout  custom  of  the  law, 
to  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts  for  investigation.  The 
Archbishop  duly  considered  the  case,  and  then  some 
difficulties  arising  he  transmitted  the  whole  case  to 
Rome  for  the  Pope's  determination.  But  Henry  III., 
though  a  weak  monarch,  would  not  tolerate  this  appeal 
to  a  foreign  jurisdiction.  He  wrote  a  very  strong 
letter  .to  the  Archbishop,  declared  his  own  courts  quite 
competent  to  settle  all  such  questions,  utterly  rejected 
the  transfer  to  what  he  calls  "  a  foreign  dignitary  "  of 
questions  which  ought  to  be  determined  in  the  national 
courts,  and  ordered  him  at  once  to  dispose  of  the  suit, 
notwithstanding  the  appeal  to  the  Papal  tribunals.1 

The  best  known  work  of  Henry  of  London  still 
remains,  however,  amongst  us,  and  was  connected  with 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  St.  Patrick's  was  originally  a 
simple  parish  church,  as  I  have  shown  in  a  previous 
lecture.  Archbishop  Comyn  made  it  a  collegiate 

They  further  ordain,  in  conformity  with  the  Lateran  decrees, 
that  no  one  shall  receive  another  priest's  parishioners  to  con- 
fession or  the  eucharist  without  the  special  license  of  the  said 
priest.  They  prescribe  the  due  ornamentation  of  churches, 
the  laws  of  tithe  and  many  details  concerning  wills  and 
testamentary  jurisdiction,  specially  restraining  the  monks 
"cujuscunque  fuit  professionis"  from  interfering  in  such 
matters. 

1  See  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  No.  1,149. 


ARCHBISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.  269 

church,  dozens,  yea,  even  hundreds  of  which  then 
existed  throughout  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland ; 
though  at  the  present  day  scarcely  a  trace  of  such 
an  institution  remains  save  at  Windsor,  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  a  few  other  places  in  England.  Collegiate 
churches,  indeed,  disappeared  in  Ireland  only  in  our 
own  day.  The  collegiate  church  of  St.  Nicholas, 
Galway,  ceased  to  hold  this  ancient  position  only  since 
I  was  a  boy,  presided  over,  as  it  was  so  lately  as 
1860,  by  a  warden,  assisted  by  four  priest  vicars. 
You  must  remember  that  collegiate  churches  have 
nothing  to  say  to  colleges  and  college  chapels,  as  we 
should  be  apt  to  imagine.  They  were  called  collegiate 
churches  because  a  college,  a  collegium  or  corporation 
or  brotherhood  of  clergy,  went  to  live  together  and 
work  together  in  association.  You  will,  for  instance, 
see  the  name  used  in  its  correct  technical  sense  in  the 
rubric  about  weekly  celebrations  following  the  office  for 
the  Holy  Communion  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
Collegiate  churches  were  a  mediaeval  institution,  and 
yet  it  seems  that  we  are  inclined  with  one  consent  to 
return  to  a  similar  system  in  the  Church  of  Ireland. 
Bishops  in  their  charges,  synodsmen  in  the  synod,  all 
seem  to  agree  that  the  system  of  planting  out  solitary 
incumbents  in  miserable  country  parishes  is  a  failure, 
leading  to  the  appointment  of  men  unfitted  by  age  and 
experience  for  their  position,  and  offering  no  chance  for 
practical  training  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  All 
seem  more  and  more  inclined  to  fall  back  upon  the 
wisdom  of  the  ancients  which  devised  the  system  of 
collegiate  churches,  where  were  combined  a  common 
life,  experienced  guidance,  dignified  worship,  together 
with  that  sense  of  sympathy  and  mutual  support  which 
are  at  present  sadly  wanting  among  us. 


270  IRELAND. 


Now?observe  this.  From  1190  to  I22O  St.  Patrick's 
was  only  a  collegiate  church,  worked  by  a  college  of 
priests  who  held  some  thirteen  prebendal  stalls.  About 
1 220  Archbishop  Henry  raised  the  collegiate  church  to 
the  position  of  a  cathedral,  instituting  four  dignitaries, 
— dean,  precentor,  chancellor,  and  treasurer;  ordaining 
that  the  dean  should  be  elected  out  of  the  Chapter 
by  the  canons  or  prebendaries,  and  that  the  Use  of 
Sarum  and  the  statutes  of  that  church  should  prevail 
in  St.  Patrick's.  From  that  time  we  have  the  unique 
institution  of  two  cathedrals  in  this  diocese  of  Dublin. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  the  example  of  London  has  been 
adduced  as  presenting  the  same  phenomenon.  There, 
indeed,  we  find  a  dean  and  chapter  at  Westminster  as 
well  as  at  St.  Paul's.  But  Westminster  is  to  this  day 
merely  a  collegiate  church  and  a  Royal  Peculiar.  It 
is  not  a  cathedral  at  all,  and  has  no  cathedral  rights 
or  dignitaries.  But  both  our  great  churches  of  St. 
Patrick's  and  the  Holy  Trinity  are  cathedrals,  and 
have  been  cathedrals — the  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity 
since  its  foundation,  St.  Patrick's  since  its  erection  into 
a  cathedral  in  1220.  The  existence  of  two  cathedrals 
in  Dublin  is  indeed  the  only  surviving  evidence  of  a 
great  struggle  which  was  fought  out  far  more  bitterly 
in  England  than  in  Ireland.  A  few  words  of  explana- 
tion will  help  to  show  the  value  of  our  peculiar 
institution  in  explaining  mediaeval  history  and  life. 
Monastic  chapters  were  a  peculiar  feature  of  Angle- 
Saxon  Christianity.  The  tenth  century  witnessed  their 
introduction  in  order  to  secure  a  necessary  reform. 
The  secular  canons  had  become  hopelessly  corrupt,  and 
monastic  chapters  were  introduced  by  St.  Dunstan  and 
other  pious  men  desirous  to  see  religious  work  done 
in  a  religious  spirit.  Two  centuries  elapsed,  and  then 


ARCHIUSHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.  271 


the  bishops  grew  tired  of  monastic  chapters.     By  the 
close  of  the  twelfth  century  many  of  the  bishops  of 
England   were  engaged  in  a  deadly  struggle,  striving 
to  banish  the  monks  from  their  chapters.     We  have  in 
the  Rotuli  Citrice  Regis,  the  Records  of  the  King's  Bench 
of  John's  time,  as  edited  by  Palgrave,  the  story  of  a 
particular    contest    which    exemplifies    my    statement. 
Hugh  de  Nonant  was    Bishop  of  Coventry  about  the 
year  1190.     He  determined  to  expel  the  monks  from 
his    chapter    and    to    substitute    secular   canons.     The 
monks  determined  upon  resistance.     They  broke  into 
the    cathedral,    assaulted    the    canons,  and    broke    the 
bishop's    head    with    their    great    processional    cross. 
Thereupon    arose    a    contest    which    was    fought,  with 
varying    success,   before  the   King's    court,    the  Arch- 
bishop's court,  and  finally  before    the   Papal  tribunal. 
With   that    special    struggle  we    have   no   more  to   do 
than  just  to  note  that  Archdeacon  Henry  of  Stafford, 
subsequently  our  Archbishop,  was  in   1194    the    legal 
champion  of  the  Coventry  canons,  against   the  monks 
before  the    courts    at  Westminster.     The   Archdeacon 
imbibed  a  hearty  horror  of  monastic  choirs,  and  when 
he  came  to  Dublin  and  found  one  there  as  thoroughly 
monastic  as  that  of  Coventry,  he  determined  to  found 
a    new  cathedral   where  secular   canons  should    alone 
exist.      He  did  not  try  to  change  the  constitution  of 
Christ  Church  Cathedral.     Bitter  experience  had  shown 
him  what  tough  customers  the  monks  could  be.     But 
a    change   he    was    determined    to    have.     A   monastic 
chapter  was  naturally  obnoxious  to  a  bishop.     It  was 
independent  of  him  by  virtue  of  its  constitution.     Arch- 
bishop Henry  founded  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  or  rather 
turned    the    Collegiate  Church,    with    its    organization 
of  a  dean  and  secular  canons,  into  a  Cathedral  Chapter, 


272  IRELAND. 

and  thus  established  beside  his  new  Palace  of  St. 
Sepulchre  a  body  which  looked  to  himself,  depended 
upon  himself,  and  regarded  him  as  their  chief  friend 
and  patron.  These  observations  will  explain  for  you 
and  bring  into  line  with  contemporary  history  what 
seems  at  first  a  mere  Hibernian  anomaly.1  This  some- 
what curious  constitution  of  our  Dublin  cathedrals 
has  often  led  to  serious  quarrels  between  the  two 
bodies.  They  carried  on  perpetual  litigation  before  the 
King  and  the  Pope,  till  at  last,  by  a  deed  or  composition 
of  peace,  made  in  the  year  1300  between  the  two 
chapters,  the  cathedral  of  the  Holy  Trinity  is  recognized 
as  the  senior  of  the  two  corporations,  the  insignia  of 
the  archbishops  as  soon  as  they  were  dead  were  to  be 
conveyed  thither  for  safe  custody,  while  their  bodies 
were  to  be  buried  alternately  in  Christ  Church  and  in 
St.  Patrick's.  This  deed  is  well  worth  consulting,  given 
as  it  is  in  full  in  the  sixth  appendix  to  Mason's  St. 
Patrick's,  for  it  shows  that  some  of  our  modern  arrange- 
ments found  an  exact  parallel  six  centuries  ago.  The 
rule,  for  instance,  there  laid  down  that  provincial  synods 
are  to  be  opened  and  closed  at  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy 


1  See  the  history  of  this  Coventry  quarrel  given  at  length  in 
Sir  Francis  Palgrave's  preface  to  the  Rotiili  Curia:  Regis 
(London:  1835),  pp.  xviii-xxviii ;  cf.  Hoveden,  iii.,  168; 
Gervase,  i.,  550;  Jocelin  de  Brakelond,  p.  69;  William  of 
Newburgh,  Hist.,  iv.,  36,  in  Chro?m.  Steph.,  etc.,  i.,  393-96 
(Rolls  Series),  and  p.  196  above.  At  the  very  same  time  the 
same  kind  of  quarrel  was  going  on  at  Canterbury  between 
Archbishop  Baldwin  and  the  monastic  chapter  of  his  cathe- 
dral. He  tried  to  adopt  the  same  course  as  the  Dublin 
archbishops.  He  endeavoured  to  remove  his  cathedral 
chapter  from  the  convent  of  Christ  Church,  and  establish 
it  with  secular  canons  at  first  at  Hackington,  half  a  mile 
from  Canterbury,  and  then  at  Lambeth.  Hence  the  origin 
of  Lambeth  Palace.  See  Hook's  Archbishops,  t.  ii.,  pp. 
549-55  ;  and  Stubbs's  Preface  Epist.  Cantuar.  (Rolls  Series). 


ARCHRISHOP  HENRY  OF  LONDON.      273 


Trinity,  finds  still  an  exact,  but  I  fear  unintentional 
and  unconscious,  obedience  at  the  hands  of  the  General 
Synod,  which  begins  and  ends  its  proceedings  at  the 
spot  thus  ordained  by  ecclesiastical  authority,  now  well 
nigh  six  hundred  years  ago.1 

I  have  wearied  you  out,  doubtless,  with  these 
ecclesiastical  details.  To  some,  however,  they  may  be 
of  great  interest,  and  to  all  they  are  necessary  if  they 
wish  to  understand  the  whole  life  and  history  of  those 
mediaeval  times.  The  life  of  Archbishop  Henry  was 
not,  as  we  might  imagine,  wholly  taken  up  with  these 
ecclesiastical  cares.  He  became  more  of  an  ecclesiastic 
as  he  advanced  in  life,  but  he  never  wholly  forgot  his 
statesmanship  and  his  skill  in  secular  affairs.  During 
the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  which  ended  in  1228,  he 
was  very  often  the  actual  as  well  as  virtual  ruler  of 
Ireland,  and,  indeed,  the  country  then  needed  a  strong 
and  determined  hand.  The  reign  of  Henry  III.  was 
long  and  troublous  in  England,  but  as  it  was  in  his 
father's  time  so  was  it  in  the  son's.  The  English 
rebels  began  their  work  in  England,  and  then  trans- 
ferred the  scene  of  their  operations  to  Ireland,  where 
they  fought  to  such  purpose  as  to  render  almost 
hopeless  the  prospects  of  Anglo-Norman  dominion. 
The  Celtic  chiefs  were  rude  enough  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  rude  enough  in  the  seventeenth  century 


'Archbishop  Alan,  in  his  Liber  Niger  (fol.  jqi,  Marsh's 
Library  copy),  tells  us  that  the  prebends  of  St.  Patrick's  were 
divided  into  sacerdotal,  diaconal  and  sub-diaconal,  and  gives 
us  the  following  as  their  order  of  precedence: — (i),  Ten 
sacerdotal,  viz.,  Culonia  or  Cullen,  Kilmactalway,  Swords, 
lago,  St.  Audoen's,  Clonmethan,  Wicklow,  Timothan,  Castle- 
knock,  Mulhuddart.  (2)  Four  diaconal,  viz.,  Tipper, 
Tassagart,  Dunlavin,  Maynooth.  (3)  Eight  sub-diaconal, 
viz.,  Howth,  Rathmichael,  Monmohenock,  Stagonil,  Tipper- 
kevin  (double  prebend),  Donaghmore  (double  prebend). 

18 


274  IRELAND. 

too ;  but  the  chief  blame  for  Irish  disturbance  and 
anarchy  at  either  period  must  be  placed  not  on  Celtic 
but  on  Anglo-Norman  and  English  shoulders.  Arch- 
bishop Henry  did  not  indeed  live  to  see  the  worst. 
He  died  about  midsummer  1228,  but  he  lived  long 
enough  to  witness  a  struggle  typical  of  countless  others 
in  the  war  of  Meath,  and  to  behold  the  foundations 
laid  of  the  war  of  Kildare,  which  will  engage  our 
attention  in  the  next  lecture,  and  point  a  moral  as 
necessary  for  the  nineteenth  as  for  the  thirteenth 
century. 


LECTURE   XII. 

THE  WARS   OF  MEATH  AND  OF  KILDARE,   OR 
THE  IRISH  TROUBLES  OF  HENRY  III. 

I  HAVE  now  endeavoured,  in  the  course  of  several 
lectures,  to  set  before  you  the  transition  period  of 
Irish  history,  so  far  as  the  Church  was  concerned.  I 
have  described  the  steps  by  which  the  old  Celtic  order, 
represented  by  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  was  merged  into 
the  newer  style  embodied  in  the  persons  and  rule  of  the 
great  Anglo-Norman  episcopal  princes.  In  a  subsequent 
lecture  I  shall  have  more  to  say  on  this  topic,  and  will 
then  point  out  how  comparatively  local  and  partial  was 
that  change ;  but  must  now  turn  aside  to  consider  the 
political  and  social  forces  which  found  play  on  the  more 
secular  side  of  Ireland's  history,  and  largely  helped  to 
make  this  island's  history  the  sad  thing  it  has  ever 
since  been,  a  roll  written,  like  the  prophet's,  within 
and  without,  with  lamentation,  mourning,  and  woe. 
I  select  for  special  treatment  the  first  half  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  for  two  obvious  reasons;  first,  because 
that  period  strikingly  illustrates  the  fatal  weakness  of 
the  feudal  system  in  Ireland,  as  established  by  the 
Plantagenet  princes.  I  have  already  shown  you  how 
they  established  here  palatine  nobles,  endowed  with 
enormous  powers,  and  enjoying  a  kind  of  quasi-inde- 
pendence  ;  a  dangerous  institution  enough  in  England, 
where  the  power  of  the  Crown  was  present  to  rule  and 


276  IRELAND. 


to  constrain,  but  a  certain  and  fruitful  source  of  mischief 
and  of  ruin  in  Ireland,  where  headstrong,  passionate 
men  were  left  to  work  out  the  devices  and  desires  of 
their  own  wild  wills,  without  trammel  or  restraint.1  A 
steam  engine,  working  at  the  height  of  its  power 
and  under  due  guidance,  is  a  magnificent  machine; 
but  a  runaway  engine,  deprived  of  driver,  stoker,  and 
guard,  ceases  to  be  useful  and  becomes  a  most  certain 
instrument  of  ruin  and  destruction.  It  will  require 
neither  a  prophet  nor  a  prophet's  son  to  make  due 
application  of  this  modern  parable  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  thirteenth  century,  as  I  shall  depict 
them.  Then,  again,  I  have  another  and  most  neces- 
sary reason  for  my  choice  of  this  period.  It  will 
conduce  to  brevity.  During  the  three  centuries  from 
I2OO  to  1500,  Ireland's  history  simply  repeats  itself 
from  year  to  year  and  from  reign  to  reign,  sometimes 
a  little  better,  sometimes  a  little  worse,  but  its  story 
is  always  one  of  disorganization,  war,  and  strife,  the 
causes  of  which  are  to  be  sought  in  the  state  of 
England  and  of  England's  politics,  as  much  as  in  that 
of  Ireland.  No  historian's  pen,  no  matter  how  skilful 
in  depicting  the  past,  could  possibly  make  an  interesting 
story  out  of  the  monotonous  details  of  murders,  raids, 
and  rebellions — Anglo-Norman  and  Celtic  alike — with 
which  the  annals  of  those  times  abound.  Should  I 
attempt  the  impossible  task,  you  would  be  utterly  sick 
of  the  dreary  recital  before  two  lectures  were  heard. 
I  shall  therefore,  in  the  present  lecture,  tell  you  the 
story  of  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  as 


1  The  best  modern  exposition  of  the  nature  of  palatinate 
tenures  will  be  found  in  the  prefaces  to  the  various  volumes 
of  the  Ri'^istruiii  Palatinum  Dunelmense  in  the  Rolls  Series, 
ed.  by  Sir  J.  D.  Hardy. 


THE    WARS   OF  MEATH  AND    OF  KILDARE.      277 


typical  of  the  political  life  of  the  whole  period  I  am 
now  seeking  to  cover ;  and  then,  in  another  lecture,  I 
shall  present  you  with  a  rapid  survey,  or  a  brief 
synopsis  rather,  of  the  leading  events  which  stand  out 
prominent  amid  the  barren  records  of  war  and  sedition. 
Let  us  then  apply  ourselves  boldly  to  the  difficult  task 
of  pourtraying  the  internecine  struggles  of  the  earliest 
Anglo-Norman  invaders. 

The  leading  interest  of  this  period  centres  round 
three  great  families,  the  De  Lacys,  the  De  Courcys, 
and  the  Marshalls.  The  De  Lacys,  Walter,  Hugh,  and 
William,  were  the  sons  of  the  great  viceroy  who  perished, 
in  the  early  days  of  Anglo-Norman  occupation,  by  the 
hand  of  young  Fox.1  They  retained  their  father's 
property  in  England  and  Ireland,  and  his  palatinate 
lordship  of  Meath.  John  de  Courcy  was  made  Earl  of 
Ulster  in  the  reign  of  Richard  I.,  some  short  time 
before  the  year  1200;  while  William,  Earl  Mareschal 
or  Marshall,  by  his  marriage  with  Isabel,  daughter 
of  Strongbow  and  the  Princess  Eva,  represented  the 
great  fiefs  of  Leinster,  Striguil,  and  Pembroke.-  Here 
were  the  elements  of  strife,  confusion,  and  wars  in 
abundance  under  one  king,  so  worthless  as  John,  and 
under  another,  so  utterly  weak  and  incapable  as  John's 
son,  Henry  III.  It  is  hard  to  make  an  interesting 
story  out  of  the  materials  we  have  in  hand.  They  are 
abundant  enough  indeed,  but  they  are  wanting  in  any 
elements  of  patriotism,  true  nobility,  high  aim,  or  even 
striking  gallantry  and  courage,  save  in  the  one  case 
of  the  Marshall  family.  Plunder,  treachery,  perjury, 
hatred  of  peace  and  the  things  which  make  for  peace, 


1  See  p.  169  above. 

-  See  a  paper  on  the  earldom   of  Ulster   in  Ulster  Journal 
of  Archceology,  t.  i.,  pp.  37-42. 


278  IRELAND. 

utter  disregard  of  duty  and  the  obligations  of  high 
station  and  office,  characterise  all,  or  well  nigh  all,  the 
leading  actors. 

De  Courcy  and  the  De  Lacys  were  scarcely  well  settled 
in  their  possessions  when  they  began  to  misuse  their 
power.       In     the    very  first    year    of  King    John    we 
read    in    a    letter  from    that    prince    to    Meyler   Fitz- 
Henry,    the  justiciary    of   Ireland,    instructions   given 
to  that  official  to  enquire  whether  Henry  Tyrrel,  the 
Lord  of  Castleknock,  had  sided  with  John  De  Courcy 
and   Walter   De    Lacy,  and    had    aided   in  destroying 
the   king's    land  in    Ireland.1      The  tale    is  much  the 
same  whether  we  study  the  history  of  these  families 
from  the  Irish  documents  or  from  the  English..    The 
Annals  of  Lough  Ce,  composed  near  Boyle,  and  under 
the   auspices   of  the    Macdermott    tribe,   tell   precisely 
the  same  story  as  the  English  official  records.      One 
year    De    Courcy  and  De  Lacy  are   united  in  waging 
war  upon  the  O'Conors,  the  next  year  they  are  biting 
and  devouring  one  another.      The  earldom  of  Ulster 
became  the  bone  of  contention  between  the  De  Courcys 
and  the  De  Lacys.     The  De  Lacys  held  Meath,  which, 
on    the    east    and    north,   marched    side    by  side    with 
Ulster.     But  Ulster  possessed  many  advantages,  from 
the  Anglo-Norman   point   of  view,   which    Meath  had 
not.     When  Ireland  was  self-contained,  and  its  princes 
were    intent    upon    their  own  quarrels  merely,    Meath 
was  the  most  desirable  of  possessions;  but  when  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Normandy,  and  the  other  lands  beyond 
the  seas,    became   objects   of  intrigue  and  of  interest, 
Meath,  with  its  one  port  of  Drogheda,  and  touching  the 
sea   nowhere  else,   seemed    a  far  inferior    principality 

1  Sweetman's  Caleinfar,  t.  i.,  p.  14,  No.  90. 


THE    WARS  OF  MEATH  AND    OF  KILDARE,      279 


to  Ulster,  with  its  harbours  of  Carlingford,  Strang- 
ford,  Ardglass,  and  Carrickfergus,  which,  even  to  this 
day,  retain,  in  many  a  ruined  castle,  clear  evidences 
of  their  flourishing  commercial  state  in  the  earliest 
days  of  the  thirteenth  century.  John  de  Courcy,  in 
virtue  of  his  extensive  sea-coast,  became  a  potentate 
whose  alliance  the  Kings  of  Man,  of  Scotland,  and 
even  of  Norway,  counted  worthy  of  their  attention ; 
while  the  De  Lacys  were,  in  the  eyes  of  these 
foreign  sovereigns,  mere  nobodies.  John  de  Courcy, 
as  Earl  of  Ulster,  married  Affrica,  the  daughter  of  the 
King  of  Man,  coined  money,  and  established  such  royal 
state  that  it  was  easy  for  Hugh  de  Lacy  to  insinuate 
suspicions  of  his  loyalty  into  King  John's  mind.1  He 
did  so  with  such  effect  that  De  Lacy  received  orders 
to  seize  De  Courcy  as  a  rebel.  This  was,  however,  no 
easy  task.  De  Courcy  was  a  giant  in  size,  and  the 
mightiest  warrior  of  his  day.  De  Lacy  made  several 
attempts  to  carry  out  the  king's  command,  and  at  last 
succeeded  only  through  the  treachery  of  De  Courcy's 
servants,  who  betrayed  their  master,  as  tradition  says, 
when  engaged  in  his  Good  Friday  devotions  in  the 

1  John  de  Courcy  during  his  rule  at  Downpatrick,  which 
lasted  during  a  period  of  well-nigh  thirty  years,  from  IT//  to 
1205,  made  some  progress  in  ecclesiastical  organization,  at 
least.  He  expelled  the  ancient  Irish  canons  from  the  convent 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  introduced  the  Black  Monks  from 
Chester.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  been  very  happy  in  their 
new  situation,  as  we  read  in  Rymer's  Fcedera,  t.  i.,  p.  205, 
a  doleful  petition  sent  by  the  prior  and  monks  of  St.  Patrick's 
(formerly  the  Holy  Trinity),  Downpatrick,  telling  of  the  re- 
peated burnings  of  their  buildings,  and  begging  for  a  cell 
in  England.  1  am  sure  they  often  wished  themselves  back  in 
Chester.  Among  the  monks  introduced  by  De  Courcy  from 
England  was  Joceline,  author  of  the  Life  of  St.  Patrick,  who 
tells  us  that  it  was  compiled  at  the  solicitation  of  De  Courcy, 
"the  most  illustrious  prince  of  Ulidia."  See  Reeves'  Eccle- 
siastical Antiquities,  pp.  163,  229;  Gilbert's  Viceroys,  p.  60. 


28o  IRELAND. 

monastery  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  which  now  is  the 
cathedral  of  Downpatrick.  De  Courcy  was  avenged 
upon  his  enemies,  even  in  his  capture.  He  seized  a 
wooden  cross,  which  stood  at  the  head  of  a  grave,  and 
wielding  it  with  all  his  gigantic  strength,  killed  thirteen 
of  De  Lacy's  attendants,  before  he  could  be  disarmed. 

Hugh  de  Lacy  was  now  triumphant.  De  Courcy 
was  compelled  to  take  the  cross  and  set  out  upon  a 
crusade  to  Palestine,1  while  the  earldom  of  Ulster  was 
at  once  conferred  upon  the  triumphant  Hugh  de  Lacy.2 
But  the  troubles  of  the  king  with  Ulster  were  only 
beginning  when  he  installed  De  Lacy  in  the  place  of 
De  Courcy.  Within  five  years,  that  is,  in  the  spring  of 
1210,  King  John  was  obliged  personally  to  invade 
Ulster  and  chase  Hugh  de  Lacy  out  of  Ireland,  seizing 
the  possessions  and  principalities  of  the  whole  De  Lacy 
faction  in  England  and  Ireland  alike ;  while  by  a  kind 
of  poetic  vengeance  there  stood  by  King  John's  side  in 
that  same  invasion  of  Ulster  the  very  John  de  Courcy 
whom  De  Lacy  had  defeated  and  deposed  by  King 
John's  command  in  1205  ;  so  tortuous,  confused,  and 
vacillating  were  Anglo-Norman  policy  and  rulers  in 
those  times. 

During  the  following  twenty  years,  from  1210  to 
1230,  the  De  Lacys  were  the  centre  and  source  of  Irish 
anarchy.  Hugh  de  Lacy  was  a  man  of  tremendous 
energy.  He  betook  himself  to  foreign  courts,  and 


1  This    fact   we  learn  from  the  Annals  of  Lough   Cc,    ed. 
Hennessy,  t.  i.,  p.  235,  A.r>.  1204. 

The  tradition  about  the  capture  of  De  Courcy  upon  Good 
Friday  has  this  much  in  its  favour,  that  the  official  grants  and 
records  all  attribute  the  capture  of  De  Courcy  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  De  Lacy  as  Earl  of  Ulster  to  the  months  of  April  and 
May  1205.  See  Sweetman,  I.e.,  t.  i.,  pp.  39  and  40,  Nos.  250, 
260,  263. 


THE    U'ARS  OF  MRATH  AND    OF  KILDARE.      281 


sought  for  support  in  Scotland,  France,  and  Norway. 
Fifteen  years  after  his  expulsion  from  Ulster  we  find 
Queen  Joanna  of  Scotland  writing  to  her  brother, 
Henry  III.  of  England,  in  1224,  telling  him  of  a  rumour 
that  the  King  of  Norway  would  land  in  Ireland  in  the 
summer,  in  order  to  aid  Hugh  de  Lacy.1  The  efforts 
of  this  latter  were  for  a  long  time  all  in  vain,  till  at  last, 
in  the  spring  of  1223,  Hugh  thought  he  saw  his  oppor- 
tunity. The  Archbishop  of  Dublin  was  justiciary  of 
Ireland.  He  had  been  vigorous  and  courageous  in  his 
day,  but  he  was  now  grown  very  old.  Hugh  de  Lacy 
prepared  to  invade  Ireland  and  reinstate  himself  in  his 
Earldom  of  Ulster.  But  he  was  narrowly  watched  all 
the  time  by  the  king's  advisers  headed  by  William 
Marshall,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  the  son  of  the  old  and 
trusted  friend  of  King  John.2  Hugh  had,  too,  a  bitter 
enemy,  who  keenly  noted  his  movements  and  quickly 
reported  them  to  London,  in  his  uncle  Cathal  O'Conor, 
King  of  Connaught,  whose  years,  identical  with  those  of 


1  The  kings  of  Norway  seem  to  have  had  designs  on  Ireland 
till  late  in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  A  nnals  of  Lough 
Ci',  ed.  Hennessy  (Rolls  Series),  A.n.  1263,  cf.  preface, 
pp.  xlv-xlvii,  the  Chronicle  of  Man,  and  the  Annals  of 
Clonmacnois,  under  the  same  year,  mention  a  projected 
invasion  of  Ireland  by  King  Haco,  who  was  lying  with  his 
ships  at  Lamlash  on  the  Clyde.  This  fact,  noticed  in  the 
briefest  manner  by  the  Irish  chronicler,  has  been  amply  con- 
firmed on  independent  grounds  by  the  researches  among  the 
Sagas  of  modern  Swedish  historians;  see  Munch's  Nor  she 
Folks  Historic  (Christiania,  1858),  vol.  i..  part  iv.,  p.  407.  The 
Irish  princes,  forgetful  of  their  old  sufferings  at  Scandinavian 
hands,  sent  an  embassy  to  solicit  Haco's  help  against  the 
Anglo-Normans,  although  there  had  been  active  diplomatic 
intercourse  between  the  courts  of  Norway  and  of  England  for 
more  than  a  century  ;  an  instance  of  which,  in  the  case  of 
this  very  Haco,  can  be  seen  in  Royal  Letters  of  Henry  III., 
t.  i.,  p.  485.  See  Bishop  Stubbs's  Lectures  on  Aletlia'ral 
and  Modern  History,  p.  143. 

-'  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  Nos.  i,no,  1,126. 


282  IRELAND. 

De  Lacy's  own,  enabled  him  to  recall  many  memories  of 
raids  and  plundering  expeditions  made  by  the  Palatine 
princes  of  Meath,  the  elder  Hugh  de  Lacy  and  his  sons, 
upon  the  wide- spreading  and  fertile  plains  of  Connaught. 
It  is  most  interesting,  therefore,  as  a  specimen  of  the 
fidelity  with  which  some  of  the  Celtic  kings  of  the 
period  served  the  English  crown,  to  find  Cathal 
O'Conor  writing  thus  to  Henry  III.  in  March  1224. 
"  Cathal,  King  of  Connaught,  to  the  King.  Hugh  de 
Lacy,  enemy  of  the  king,  of  the  king's  father,  and  of 
Cathal,  whom  King  John,  by  Cathal's  advice,  expelled 
from  Ireland,  has,  without  consulting  the  king,  come 
to  that  country  to  disturb  it.  Against  Hugh's  coming 
Cathal  remains,  as  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  knows, 
firm  in  his  fidelity  to  the  king.  But  the  closer  Cathal 
adheres  to  the  king's  service,  the  more  he  is  harassed 
by  those  who  pretend  fealty  to  the  king,  and,  as  the 
justiciary  knows,  shamefully  fail  against  his  enemy ;  so 
that  between  Hugh  de  Lacy,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
those  who  pretend  to  be  faithful  on  the  other,  Cathal 
is  placed  in  great  difficulty;"  not  the  only  person, 
we  may  in  passing  remark,  was  the  King  of  Connaught 
whom  the  weak,  ever-changing  policy  of  the  English 
Court  has  placed  in  similar  positions  of  difficulty  in 
Ireland.  Despite  all  his  foes  within  or  without  Ireland, 
Hugh  de  Lacy  landed  in  Ireland  early  in  1224,  trusting 
that  his  name  and  extensive  connection  would  speedily 
place  him  at  the  head  of  a  force  sufficient  to  extort 
favourable  terms  from  the  Crown.  Thereupon  arose 
what  is  called  the  war  of  Meath.  The  royal  advisers 
adopted  the  best  steps  they  could.  The  episcopal 
justiciary,  Archbishop  Henry,  was  at  once  superseded,' 

1  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  180,  No.  1,185. 


THE    WARS  OF  ME  ATI!  AND   OF  KILDARE.      283 


and  William  Marshall,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  the  ablest 
soldier  of  the  day,  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 
William  Marshall  did  his  utmost  with  the  means  he 
possessed.  We  require  no  further  explanations  of 
the  failure  of  English  policy  in  Ireland  during  these 
early  centuries,  than  those  which  a  study  of  the 
official  records  of  this  rebellion  supplies.  The  English 
government  of  that  time  trusted  to  volunteer  help, 
to  Papal  mandates,  to  episcopal  excommunications, 
to  the  mutual  hatred  and  hostility  of  the  nobles,  but 
was  utterly  lacking  in  the  first  elements  of  a  stand- 
ing army  or  of  a  vigorous  police.  Rulers  who  pass 
laws,  but  have  no  force  to  back  up  these  laws,  will 
soon  be  despised  in  a  semi-barbarous  community,  and 
so  it  was  in  Ireland  in  the  year  1224.*  The  Earl  of 
Pembroke  was  appointed  justiciary,  apparently  because 
he  could  bring  large  forces  of  his  own  into  the  field ;  and 
then  when  Henry  III.  proceeded  to  assist  him,  he  could 
only  do  so  by  committing  Meath  and  its  fortresses,  in- 
cludingthe  all-importantone  of  Trim  Castle,  to  thecustody 
of  Hugh  de  Lacy's  own  brother,  Walter  de  Lacy,  who,  of 


1  The  state  of  utter  unpreparedness  for  war  in  which  the 
Anglo-Norman  government  then  was,  is  best  illustrated  by  an 
official  statement  of  the  stores  in  the  three  great  royal  castles 
of  Athlone,  Limerick,  and  Dublin  about  the  year  1224,  reported 
in  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  187.  In  the  castle  of 
Athlone,  the  great  frontier  fortress  of  Connaught,  was  found, 
"  4  coats  of  mail,  2  with  and  2  without  headpieces  ;  9  iron 
hats  ;  i  helmet  ;  2  mangonels,  with  120  strings  and  slings  ;  i 
cable  ;  i  crossbow  with  a  wheel  ;  2,000  bolts  :  i  small  brazen 
pot ;  5  broken  tuns  ;  5  basins  ;  4  broken  tubs  ;  2  anchors  ; 
ironwork  of  2  mills  ;  i  chasuble  ;  i  consecrated  altar  ;  i 
figured  cloth  to  put  before  the  altar."  In  the  castle  of  Limerick 
there  were  found  stores  amounting  in  value  to  eighteen  pence, 
chiefly  consisting  of  broken  dishes.  Dublin  was  not  much 
better  furnished  than  Athlone.  The  English  government 
of  that  day  had  castles,  but  no  arms  ;  just  as  some  now 
complain  that  we  have  abundant  ships,  but  no  guns. 


284  IRELAND. 

course  while  pretending  to  oppose  Earl  Hugh,  lent  him  all 
the  assistance  in  his  power.  We  have  in  the  Royal  Letters 
of  Henry  III.  an  interesting  account  of  the  struggle 
which  ensued,  set  forth  in  a  despatch  from  the  Earl  of 
Pembroke  to  his  sovereign,  detailing  his  operations  from 
the  middle  of  June  till  the  end  of  August  1224.  The 
letter  is  quite  modern  in  its  form,  though  drawn  up  in 
the  Latin  tongue.  It  enumerates  the  persons  who  have 
lent  assistance,  requests  the  Crown  to  express  to  them 
its  gratitude  by  letter,  details  the  operations  of  the 
army  and  notes  its  successes.1  Earl  William  Marshall, 
according  to  this  despatch,  arrived  in  Waterford  on  the 
Wednesday  before  the  festival  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
(June  24th),  whence  he  marched  to  Dublin  and  was 
invested  with  the  office  of  justiciary  by  the  archbishop. 
The  earl  was  a  vigorous  commander.  He  gathered 
such  assistance  as  he  could  from  the  citizens  of  Dublin, 
— who  naturally,  as  commercial  men,  were  hostile  to  the 
plundering  sway  of  the  barons,  and  supported  the  Crown, 
— and  then  marched  at  once  to  Trim  Castle,  which  he 
besieged  for  six  weeks.2  But  he  did  not  confine  his 
attention  to  one  place.  Hugh  de  Lacy  himself,  far  away 

1  Royal  Letters  Henry  III.  (Rolls  Series),  t.  i.,  pp.  500-503. 

-  The  financial  resources  of  the  Irish  justiciary  were  of  the 
scantiest  kind.  He  seized  three  hundred  marks  lying  in  the 
Papal  treasury  at  Dublin  {Royal  Letters,  i.,  325)  ;  six  hundred 
cows  and  forty  marks  belonging  to  the  Abbey  of  Mellifont 
(Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  189)  ;  two  hundred  pounds 
belonging  to  St.  Mary's  Abbey  Q.c.,  t.  i.,  p.  192).  These  eccle- 
siastical loans  the  king  was  compelled  to  repay.  He  borrowed 
^312  from  some  prominent  citizens  of  Dublin.  This  loan  was 
not  repaid  by  the  king.  He  compelled  the  city  to  repay  it 
after  a  delay  of  five  years,  in  return  for  permission  to  choose 
annually  their  own  mayor  (Royal  Letters,  i. ,  352  ;  Sweetman's 
Calendar,  i.,  254).  The  Earl  Marshall  must  have  been  hard 
pressed  to  make  both  ends  meet,  as  in  his  despatch  he 
reports  to  Henry  III.  that  the  expenses  of  the  army  were 
a  day. 


THE    WARS  OF  MEATH  AND   OF  KILDARE.      285 

in  the  north,  was  besieging  the  castle  of  Carrickfergus, 
which  was  holding  out  for  the  king.     Marshall  embarked 
a  small  force  at  Drogheda,1  which,  sailing  straight  from 
that  port  to  the  mouth  of.  Belfast  Lough,  successfully 
relieved  the  assailed  fortress,  compelling  Hugh  de  Lacy 
to  retire.      In  quite  the    opposite  direction  Marshall's 
measures  were  equally  successful.    The  county  of  Cavan 
was  in  those  times  called  O'Reilly's  country.2    It  is  still 
a  district  celebrated  for  the  vast  number  of  its  lakes, 
a  feature  of  the  landscape  which  made  it,  six  centuries 
ago,  a  secure  refuge  for   the  native  Irish  against  the 
Norman  invaders,  whose  iron-clad  warriors  inevitably 
perished  if  they  attempted   to  penetrate  its  bogs  and 
morasses.      The   Celtic  chiefs  of  this   region   lived  in 
crannogs,  or  fortified  islands,3  many  of  which  can  still 
be  identified.     O'Reilly's  country  touches  Meath  on  the 
north-west  a  few  miles  beyond  the  town  of  Kells,  along 
a  line  where  the  diocese  of  Kilmore  meets  the  diocese  of 
Meath.      Here  the  chief  of  the  O'Reilly  tribe  had  erected 


1  This  Carrickfergus  expedition  was  commanded  by  William 
le  Gros,  a  famous  commander  in  these  Irish  wars.  His  name 
often  appears  in  the  Irish  Annals.  He  was  one  of  the  ances- 
tors of  the  Grace  family  (Hennessy's  Annals  of  Lough  Ce, 
A.D.  1225,  and  Annals  of  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1225,  ed. 
O' Donovan). 

-  See  Irish  Topographical  Poems,  ed.  by  John  O'Donovan, 
p.  57,  in  the  Irish  Archaeological  Series.  It  was  acknowledged 
by  the  Crown  as  O'Reilly's  country  till  Elizabeth's  time  (cf. 
Ulster  Journal  of  Arcliceology,  t.  ii.,  p.  7). 

3  See  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  p.  292,  for  a  note 
about  crannogs  and  a  list  of  authorities  on  that  subject ;  to 
which  I  would  now  add  Keller's  Lake  Dwellings,  translated 
by  John  E.  Lee,  in  two  vols.  (London,  18/8),  where  it  is  stated 
(t.  i.,  p.  654)  that  Ballynahuish  Castle  in  West  Galway,  which 
was  a  crannog,  was  inhabited  till  the  early  years  of  this 
century.  On  the  Cavan  crannogs  Sir  W.  Wilde  wrote  a  paper 
printed  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
t.  viii.,  p.  27,.]. 


286  IRELAND. 

a  crannog  at  an  advanced  point  to  guard  his  boundaries.1 
William  de  Lacy,  another  brother  of  the  earl,  possessed 
himself  of  it,  and  placed  in  it,  for  security,  his  wife, 
the  wife  of  his  brother  Thomas  de  Lacy,  and  his  mother, 
Rose  O'Conor,  the  second  wife  of  the  elder  Hugh  de 
Lacy,  whose  marriage,  nearly  fifty  years  before,  had 
excited  the  wrath  of  Henry  II.,  and  caused  the  dismissal 
of  that  great  chieftain  from  the  position  of  chief  governor 
of  Ireland. 

Here  let  me  pause  a  little  in  the  course  of  my  narra- 
tive to  note  for  you  the  tangled  web  of  matrimonial 
connections  which  we  already  find  woven  among  these 
earliest  Anglo-Norman  settlers.  Many  of  them  had 
already  become  in  blood,  if  not  in  feeling  and  national 
sentiment,  as  much  Celt  as  Norman.  The  elder  Hugh  de 
Lacy  married  Rose  O'Conor,  who  survived  her  husband 
during  more  than  forty  years  of  widowhood,  to  find 
herself  in  her  old  age  a  fugitive  amid  the  bogs,  lakes, 
and  crannogs  of  Cavan.  Her  eldest  step-sons  were 
Hugh  and  Walter,  of  whom  Hugh,  Earl  of  Ulster,  was 
now  the  leading  rebel  in  Ireland.  Her  own  sons  by 
De  Lacy  were  William,  Thomas,  and  Henry.  Henry 
became  a  priest,  but  the  soldier  element  in  his  composi- 
tion was  too  strong  for  the  clerical,  and  he  was  killed 


1  Mr.  Hennessy,  in  his  Annals  of  Lough  Cc,  t.  i.,  p.  260, 
Note  s  (Rolls  Series),  identifies  this  crannog  with  the  old  Castle 
of  Cloch-Oughter,  in  Lough  Oughter,  county  Cavan.  In  Mr.  K. 
P.  Shirley's  Territory  of  Farney,  p.  95,  he  quotes  a  description 
of  Monaghari  in  1590,  now  preserved  in  the  State  Paper  Office, 
which  gives  drawings  of  the  residences  of  the  Celtic  chiefs  in 
these  crannogs.  They  were  mere  cabins  built  of  wood,  and  in 
appearance  like  the  dwellings  of  small  farmers  at  the  present 
day.  Such  as  they  were  in  1590,  such  they  were  in  A.D.  1224. 
The  Celtic  tribes  changed  nothing  in  the  interval.  The  piles 
and  flooring  on  which  these  cabins  stood  have  been  in  many 
cases  discovered  intact. 


THE    WARS  OF  ME  ATI!  AND   OF  KILDARE.      287 


fighting  against  the  Earl  Marshall  at  the  Castle  of 
Kilmore.  William  de  Lacy,1  the  grandson  of  Roderic 
O'Conor,  King  of  Connaught,  married  the  daughter  of 
William  de  Braose,  a  Norman  noble ;  and  her  sister 
Maud  was  wife  of  Griffith,  Prince  of  South  Wales. 
But  this  was  not  all,  or  nearly  all.  Llewellyn,  Prince 
of  North  Wales,  and  Hugh  de  Lacy's  ally  in  rebellion, 
was  married  to  the  sister  of  Henry  III.,  King  of  Eng- 
land ;  while,  to  crown  the  labyrinth  of  unions,  the  Earl 
Marshall  was  married  to  another  sister  of  King  Henry, 
and  the  King  of  Scotland  to  yet  a  third ;  and  still, 
though  thus  connected  together  by  matrimonial  ties, 
they  were  all  engaged  in  fighting  and  plotting  one 
against  another.2 

Earl  Marshall  vigorously  followed  up  the  advantages 
which  he  had  gained.  Upon  the  same  day  he  and  his 
allies  attacked  the  Castle  of  Kilmore  in  one  direction 
and  O'Reilly's  crannog  in  another.  William  de  Lacy 
was  present  in  person  at  Kilmore,  where  he  escaped 
with  difficulty  from  the  pursuit  of  his  enemies,  being 
so  hard  pressed  indeed  that  he  was  obliged  to  kill  his 


1  William  de  Lacy  was  the  ancestor  of  Pierce  Lacy,  of 
the  county  Limerick,  celebrated  as  a  rebel  in  the  time  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  also  of  the  Lynches  of  Galway  (see 
O' Donovan's  edition  of  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
A.D.  1 1 86  and  1233).  William  de  Lacy,  called  Blundus  or  Le 
Blund  in  the  Anglo-Norman  records,  is  styled  William  Gorm, 
or  Blue  William,  in  the  Book  of  Fcndgl(,  ed.  Hennessy,  pp. 
73  and  77,  where  his  wars  and  ravages  in  Breifny  (Leitrim 
and  Cavan),  and  death  in  1233,  are  celebrated;  with  which 
agree  the  A  iinals  of  Clonmaciiois  (cf . ''  Breifny  Letters,"  Ordn. 
Surv.  Cor  res.,  Roy.  Irish  Acad.,  p.  194).  William  de  Lacy 
died  of  wounds  received  at  the  hands  of  the  O'Reillys. 
The  Book  of  Fenag/t  enters  into  details,  and  names  three 
weeks  as  the  period  during  which  he  lingered  sick  of  his 
wounds. 

-'See  Royal  Letters  of  Henry  III.  (Rolls  Series),  t.  i.,  pp. 
306,  502  ;  Sweetman's  Calendar,  t.  i.,  p.  183. 


288  IRELAND. 

horse,  fling  away  his  armour,  and  take  refuge  in  a 
morass,  where  his  Celtic  blood  and  training  stood  him 
in  good  stead,  helping  him  to  escape  from  the  heavy- 
armed  Norman  soldiery.1  At  O'Reilly's  crannog  the 
Celtic  tribes  seem  to  have  taken  the  initiative  in  the 
assault.  The  O'Reillys  were  ever  the  bitterest  foes 
of  the  De  Lacys.  Nine  years  later  they  were  the 
cause  of  the  death  of  William  de  Lacy,  and  now  they 
are  the  first  to  take  advantage  of  his  weakness  and 
of  the  Earl  Marshall's  invasion.  They  attacked  the 
crannog  which  he  had  wrested  from  them,  and  with 
the  help  of  a  detachment  of  the  earl's  knights  and 
soldiers,  captured  the  wife  of  William  de  Lacy,  his 
sister-in-law,  and  his  aged  mother,  the  Connaught 
princess  Rose  O'Conor,  together  with  an  illegiti- 
mate daughter  of  Llewellyn,  the  Prince  of  North 
Wales,  who  seems  to  have  been  then  visiting  her 
Celtic  relations  in  Ireland,  or  had  perhaps  fled  thither 
for  safety  from  the  hostility  of  her  own  father. J 
The  Earl  Marshall  was  not  a  mere  soldier,  how- 
ever. He  knew  how  to  unite  diplomacy  to  war, 

1  The  Celtic  population  have  ever  availed  themselves  of  the 
bogs  as  their  surest  defence.  Even  so  lately  as  the  rebellion 
of  1/98  it  was  so.  I  remember  hearing  as  a  boy  of  an  attack 
by  a  large  party  of  insurgents  upon  a  gentleman's  residence 
in  the  county  Roscommon.  Two  mounted  soldiers  were  sent 
to  defend  it.  They  were  heard  riding  up  the  avenue,  and 
believed  to  be  the  advanced  guard  of  a  large  party.  The 
insurgent  commander  immediately  gave  the  order,  "To  the 
bogs,  boys  !  "  upon  which  the  whole  party  sought  security 
where  the  mounted  yeomanry  could  not  follow  them.  The 
soubriquet,  "To  the  bogs,  boys  !  "  stuck  to  the  man  and  his 
descendants  ever  after. 

-The  language  of  the  Earl  Marshall  in  his  despatch  to 
King  Henry  III.  (Kay a/  Letters  t  t.  i.,  p.  502)  is:  "  In  dicto 
castro  fuerunt  uxor  YVillelmi  de  Lascy,  filia  Leulini  soror  Griftini 
de  patre  et  matre. ' '  From  Matthew  Paris,  Historia  A  nglorutn, 
iii.,  280  (Rolls  Series),  we  learn  that  Llewellyn  had  two  sons, 


THE    WARS  OF  MEATH  A  AD    OF  K1LDARE.      289 


and  was  quick  to  avail  himself  of  the  advantages 
which  the  fortune  of  battle  had  placed  in  his  hands. 
A  new  element  of  strife  had  lately  entered  into 
that  seething  devil's  cauldron  of  violence  and  con- 
fusion which  Ireland  then  was.  The  old  King  of 
Connaught,  Cathal  Crovderg,  or  Cathal  of  the  Red 
Hand,1  had  died  on  May  2/th  of  this  very  year  1224,  as 
the  chroniclers  put  it,  "after  triumphing  over  the  world 
and  the  devil  in  the  Abbey  of  Knockmoy,  where  he  had 
assumed  a  monk's  habit," — that  being  the  usual  device 
of  the  age  to  secure  heaven  after  a  life  of  violence  and 
crime.2  Cathal  of  the  Red  Hand  had  been  on  the  whole 
a  true  friend  and  ally  of  the  Anglo-Norman  sovereigns, 
who  had  in  turn  treated  him  honourably  and  supported 
him  with  vigour.  His  son  and  successor,  Hugh 
O'Conor,  seems,  however,  to  have  been  inclined  to 


Griffin,  illegitimate,  and  David,  legitimate.  In  1223  Hugh  de 
Lacy  joined  with  Llewellyn  in  a  Welsh  war  against  Henry  III. 
and  Earl  Marshall.  Cf.  Matthew  Paris,  Chronica  Majora,  t.  iii., 
p.  82,  and  the  Welsh  chronicle,  Brut-y-Tywysogion,  passim. 

1  Dr.  O'Donovan  has  given  us  the  explanation  of  this  title 
in  an  interesting  note  in  his  edition  of  the  Annals  of  the 
Four  Masters,  A.D.  1224.  He  gathered  it  from  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  farmers  and  story-tellers  in  the  counties  of  Galway 
and  Mayo  more  than  half  a  century  ago.  I  must,  however, 
refer  the  curious  student  to  the  note  for  further  information,  as 
the  story  will  scarcely  bear  repetition  in  a  book  designed  for 
general  reading. 

-  The  following  extract  from  the  Welsh  chronicle  Brut-y- 
Tywysogion,  p.  327,  about  that  double-dyed  and  blood-stained 
villain  Llewellyn,  Prince  of  North  Wales,  will  show  that  the 
religious  notions  of  Wales  were  no  better  than  those  of 
Ireland: — -"A.D.  1240,  Llywelyn,  son  of  Jorwerth,  Prince  of 
\Vales,  died, — the  man  whose  good  works  it  would  be  difficult 
to  enumerate,  and  was  buried  at  Aberconway  after  taking 
the  habit  of  religion.  And  after  him  David,  his  son  by  Joan, 
daughter  of  King  John,  reigned."  A  glance  at  the  index  of 
the  work  just  quoted  will  show  the  character  of  his  good 
works.  He  was  excommunicated,  immoral,  a  rebel,  a 
treacherous  and  inhuman  murderer. 

19 


290  IRELAND. 

a  different  course ;  and  we  cannot  wonder  at  it. 
The  traditions  of  his  family  told  him  that  they  had 
once  reigned  supreme  over  the  whole  country.  He 
now  saw  the  conquerors  fatally  divided  among  them- 
selves, and  the  most  active  and  vigorous  of  them 
bitterly  hostile  to  the  English  sovereign.  The  ties  of 
blood,  too,  ever  powerful  among  the  Celts,  summoned 
him  to  the  battle-field.  The  De  Lacys  were  his  own 
first  cousins,  and  he  had  thus  the  double  opportunity 
of  aiding  his  own  kith  and  kin  and  striking  a  blow  in 
defence  of  his  own  ancient  family  rights  and  authority. 
Earl  Marshall,  however,  availed  himself  of  the  capture 
of  his  aunt  in  O'Reilly's  crannog,  to  compel  the  King 
of  Connaught  to  follow  his  father's  footsteps  and  remain 
an  obedient  subject  of  the  English  king  ;  and  thus  it 
is  that  we  find  him  writing  in  the  despatch  from  which 
I  have  quoted,  "  Within  fifteen  days  the  mother  of 
William,  of  Thomas,  and  of  Henry  de  Lacy,  will  be  a 
prisoner  unless  her  nephew  the  King  of  Connaught 
return  to  the  king's  peace  through  her." 

The  justiciary's  action  seems  to  have  been  successful 
for  a  time.  The  entreaties  of  the  elder  Hugh  de  Lacy's 
aged  widow  weighed  with  King  Hugh,  and  he  united 
his  forces  with  the  earl's  in  the  course  of  the  autumn. 
The  De  Lacys'  cause  had  now  become  hopeless  in 
Meath.  The  King  of  Connaught  was  not  the  only 
Irish  prince  who  assembled  his  forces  to  the  assistance 
of  the  Earl  Marshall.  O'Brian,  King  of  Munster, 
MacCarthy,  Prince  of  Desmond,  and  many  others, 
joined  the  royal  army  as  soon  as  they  saw  which  was 
the  winning  cause.  Nothing  succeeds,  or  ever  has  suc- 
ceeded, in  Ireland  so  well  as  success.  Hugh  de  Lacy, 
Earl  of  Ulster,  now  fell  back  into  his  own  dominions. 
He  invoked  the  assistance  of  the  O'Neills,  ever  hostile 


THE    WARS   OF  MEATH  AND   OF  KILDARE.      291 

to  the  southern  Irish,  which  was  at  once  granted,  and 
the  combined  forces  took  up  a  formidable  position  in 
what  was  called  the  Fews  of  Dundalk,  a  district  which 
down  to  the  wars  of  1690  has  often  proved  an  effectual 
bar  to  the  course  of  English  conquest.1  It  is  even  still 
a  wild  though  beautiful  region.  Slieve  Gullion,  its 
central  mountain,  situated  midway  between  Newry  and 
Dundalk,  rises  to  the  height  of  some  two  thousand 
feet,  offering  from  its  summit  splendid  views  in  every 
direction,  and  flinging  off  ranges  of  lofty  hills,  terminat- 
ing on  one  side  at  the  precipitous  peak  of  Carlingford 
Mountain,  well  known  to  mariners  as  a  conspicuous 
landmark,  and  extending  in  the  north-westerly  direc- 
tion towards  the  city  of  Armagh.  The  Fews  have 
been,  as  I  have  said,  down  to  modern  times  a  difficult 
country  to  invade.  De  Ginkle  in  1690  had  hard  work 
to  fight  his  way  through  it.  About  1794  the  same 
district  was  marked  by  a  series  of  outrages  and 
massacres  in  the  parish  of  Forkhill,  which  led,  in  1795,  to 
a  well-known  incident  called  the  Battle  of  the  Diamond, 
between  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  Fews  and  the 
Protestants  of  the  north  of  the  county  Armagh.  That 
fierce  party  fight  originated,  by  way  of  reaction,  the 
Orange  Society,  and  largely  contributed  to  impart  the 


1  It  may  naturally  be  asked  how  could  the  O'Neills,  Kings 
of  Ulster,  assist  Hugh  de  Courcy,  who  claimed  to  be  earl  and 
palatine  lord  of  Ulster.  O' Donovan's  note  on  the  Annals 
of  the  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1173,  explains  the  difficulty. 
Ulster  has  been  since  the  fifth  century  the  proper  designation 
of  Down  and  Antrim,  which  alone  formed  De  Courcy' s 
principality.  The  descendants  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages 
seized  in  the  fifth  century  upon  the  western  and  northern 
portions  of  what  we  call  Ulster,  Donegal,  Tyrone,  Armagh, 
etc.  The  writers  of  Irish  history  call  Down  and  Antrim 
Ulidia,  while  they  apply  the  term  Ultonia  to  the  country  of 
the  O'Neills.  The  dominions  of  De  Courcy  and  O'Neill  did 
not  interfere,  therefore,  the  one  with  the  other. 


292  IRELAND. 

sectarian  aspect  which  the  rebellion  of  1798  quickly 
assumed.  As  it  has  been  down  to  our  own  times,  so  it 
was  in  the  days  of  Henry  III.  and  in  the  year  1224.  The 
Fews  of  Dundalk  and  the  Slieve  Gullion  range  were  then 
the  southern  barrier  of  Ulster,  and  of  the  dominions  of 
the  O'Neills  and  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster  alike;  and  within 
its  morasses,  woods,  and  passes  the  combined  forces  of 
the  Celtic  and  Anglo-Norman  rebels  entrenched  them- 
selves some  time  about  the  month  of  October  1224,  when 
the  rains  of  late  autumn  were  rapidly  helping  to  render 
the  whole  country  impassable.1  The  Earl  Marshall, 
with  his  southern  allies,  viewed  the  position,  realized 
that  it  was  an  inaccessible  one  for  Anglo-Norman 
soldiers,  and  therefore,  like  a  wise  man,  made  the  best 
terms  he  could  with  the  Earl  of  Ulster.  O'Neill  and 
De  Lacy  entered  into  a  treaty  without  any  confession 
of  ill-doing  or  recognition  of  defeat.  They  declined  to 
give  any  hostages,  and  simply  made  peace,  reserving 
for  future  settlement  with  the  king  the  terms  on  which 
they  would  consent  to  render  allegiance  and  tribute  to 
the  Crown.  Why  need  we  pursue  the  story  any 
further?  The  course  of  Hugh  de  Lacy's  fortunes 
pursued  henceforth  the  historic  road  ever  followed  by 
such  careers  in  Ireland.  The  successful  rebel  became 
the  king's  bosom  friend,  his  most  trusted  counsellor 


1  See  for  a  description  of  this  pass  between  Dundalk  and 
Newry  in  1586,  Marshal  Bagenal's  description  of  Ulster  in 
Ulster  Journal  of  Archaeology,  t.  ii.,  pp.  150,  151  (cf.  t.  vi., 
p.  153),  and  Stuart's  History  of  Armagh,  290-93.  What  it 
was  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  such  it  was  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  and  for  long  after.  In  fact  it  is  still  a  wild  region. 
Twenty-five  years  ago,  when  voters  were  to  be  spirited  away 
at  contested  elections  in  Newry,  Dundalk,  or  Armagh,  they 
were  always  taken  to  the  Fews.  Many  a  dubious  Newry  voter 
found  himself,  after  a  night's  debauch,  safe  next  morning 
among  the  spurs  of  Slieve  Gullion. 


THE    WARS    OF  ME  A  Til  AND    OF  KILDARE.      293 

In  two  years'  time  all  his  lands,  castles,  and  dignities 
were  restored  to  him.  He  had  new  grants  of  fairs  and 
markets  throughout  his  wide  dominions,  till  at  last,  ten 
years  after  his  rebellion,  he  stood  by  the  king's  side 
in  opposition  to  his  former  conqueror's  own  brother, 
Richard,  Earl  Marshall ;  and  then,  after  Marshall's 
defeat  and  death,  was  summoned  into  England  as  the 
king's  wisest  guide  amid  the  tangled  skein  of  Irish 
politics.1  To  understand,  however,  this  latter  portion 
of  our  story,  and  to  perceive  how  curiously  similar  to 
modern  Irish  politics  of  the  parliamentary  kind  were 
the  more  bloody  sort  of  six  centuries  ago,  I  must  now 
set  before  you  in  some  detail  the  history  of  the  great 
Marshall  family,  whose  head  was  Earl  Mareschal  of 
England,  of  Pembroke,  of  Striguil,  and  of  Leinster. 

The  Marshall  family  of  the  time  of  Henry  III.  had 
furnished  for  more  than  a  century  men  of  light  and 
leading  in  England."  In  the  time  of  Henry  I.,  and  at 
the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  we  first  find 
mention  of  them.  The  head  of  the  family,  Gilbert 
Marshall,  was  then  impleaded  in  an  action  at  law,  and 
compelled  to  defend  his  claim  to  the  great  office  of  Earl 
Mareschal,  whence  his  family  subsequently  derived 
their  name.  His  son,  John  Marshall,  succeeded  him  in 
his  office,  and  after  taking  his  due  share  in  the  civil  tur- 
moils of  Stephen's  troubled  reign, :J  supported  Henry  II. 
in  his  great  struggle  against  Thomas  a  Becket.  John 

1  For  the  authorities  as  to  these  statements  see  Sweetman's 
Calendar,  t.  i.,  Nos.  1,498,  1,505,  1,544,  2>IJ3>  2>2^5>  2>j84  ; 
Royal  Letters  of  Henry  III.,  t.  i.,  pp.  437,  478. 

-  In  spelling  the  name  of  this  family  I  usually  follow  Mr. 
Sweetman's  example  and  adopt  the  modern  form  of  the  word, 
viz.,  Marshall.  Sir  K.  Madden  in  his  edition  of  the  Historia 
A  ngloriiin  spells  it  Mareschal. 

•'  See  C/ironiclcs  of  Stephen,  etc.  (Rolls  Series),  t.  iii.,  pp. 
66,  67. 


294  IRELAND. 

Marshall's    son    was    the    great    hero    of    the    family, 
and  carried  its  glory  to  the   highest  point.     It  is  but 
simple  truth  to  say  that  during  thirty  years,  from   1 190 
to    1 220,  the    Great  Earl,   William   Marshall,   was  the 
foremost  figure  in  England  and  in  English  history  next 
to  the  sovereigns  themselves.     He  was  the  tried  friend, 
the  wisest,  truest   counsellor,   of  Richard   I.,   of  King 
John,  and  the  guardian  of  the  tender  years  of  John's 
son,    Henry    III.       William    Marshall's    life    was    a 
chequered   one  all   the  same.      He  was   a  member  of 
what  we  might  call  the  Young   England   party  under 
Henry  II.     He  was  a  young  noble  of  great  ability  and 
great   power.      He    chafed    under    the    strong    rule    of 
Henry  II.,  and    sympathised  with   the   king's  sons   in 
their  opposition  to  their  father.     William  Marshall  took 
up  arms  as  one  of  Prince  Henry's  partisans  in    1173, 
adhered  to  him  amid  his  various  fortunes,  and  finally 
received  the  cross  from   his  hands  as  he  lay  a-dying, 
a    rebel    against    his    father,   June   nth,   II83-1      Age 
and    advancing    years    soon,     however,     exercised     a 
chastening  influence  upon  William  Marshall.     He  laid 
aside  the  follies  of  youth.     He  eschewed  the  younger 
nobility  and  their  designs,  embraced  the  service  of  King 
Henry  II.,  was  trusted  by  him  on  some  delicate  missions, 
appointed  to  the  earldom,  and  married  by  him  to  his 
young  and  richly-endowed  ward,  Isabella,  daughter  of 
Strongbow  and  Eva,  and  heir  to  all  the  vast  possessions 
which  Strongbow  had  gained  by  his  marriage  with  the 
great  Irish  heiress  of  Dermot  MacMurrough.     William 
Marshall  henceforth  was  the  right-hand  man  and  most 
trusty  servant  of  the  sovereign  for  the  time  being.     He 
supported    King   John   with   all    his    vast    influence  in 


1  Hoveden's  Chrun.,  ii.,  279. 


THE    WARS   OF  MEATH  AND    OF  KILDARE.      295 


England  and  in  Ireland  against  the  pope  and  against 
the  king's  own  rebellious  vassals.  William  Marshall 
proved  himself  true  at  the  greatest  crisis  of  all,  when 
King  John,  dying,  left  as  his  heir  a  young  and  helpless 
boy,  with  a  French  prince  and  army  in  possession  of 
a  good  half  of  the  kingdom.  Marshall  put  aside  all 
ambitious  thoughts  so  far  as  he  was  himself  concerned, 
took  the  young  Henry  III.,  placed  him  in  the  midst  of 
the  faithful  barons,  and  made  them  swear  allegiance  to 
the  child.  Thenceforward,  during  the  three  or  four  years 
of  life  which  remained,  the  great  earl  was  the  guide, 
tutor,  and  prime  minister  of  the  king ;  and  when  death 
claimed  him  as  its  own  on  May  i6th,  1219,  he  confided 
the  task  of  educating  the  king  and  watching  over  the 
interests  of  his  country  to  his  eldest  son  and  namesake, 
William  Marshall  the  younger.  The  chronicler  Matthew 
Paris  well  expresses  the  universal  feeling  of  loss  and 
dismay  at  his  departure  in  the  few  dignified  words 
wherein  he  speaks  of  him  as  "  one  who,  having  been 
supreme  governour  of  both  the  king  and  the  kingdom, 
was  justly  called  the  Great  on  account  of  his  magnani- 
mity ; "  and  then  records  the  epitaph  set  up  above  his 
tomb  in  the  Temple  Church — 

"  Sum  quern  Saturnum  sibi  sensit  Hibernia,  Solcm 
Anglia,  Mercurium  Normannia,  Gallia  martem." 

William  Marshall  the  younger  at  once  took  up  the 
reins  of  government  which  had  fallen  from  his  father's 
hands.  In  his  earlier  days  he  had  followed  his  father's 
youthful  example.  He,  too,  had  joined  the  Young 
England  party  of  opposition.  It  would  seem  as  if  the 
earlier  days  of  the  thirteenth  century  were  very  like 
the  times  of  Catiline  of  old,  or  those  in  which 
we  now  are  living.  The  younger  nobles  generally 


296  IRELAND. 

flung  in  their  lot  with  the  opposition,  only  to  become 
in  their  maturer  years  the  strongest  supporters  of 
constituted  authority.  The  younger  Marshall  sup- 
ported Prince  Louis,  the  French  invaders,  and  the 
rebellious  barons,  just  as  his  own  father  had  allied 
himself  with  the  sons  of  Henry  II.  in  their 
treasonable  designs.  Recalled,  however,  to  a  sense 
of  his  duty  by  the  old  earl,  his  son  proved  himself 
the  faithful  minister  of  Henry  III.  He  vigorously 
maintained  the  royal  cause  in  France,  on  the  Welsh 
border  against  Llewellyn,  Prince  of  Wales  ;  and,  as 
I  have  already  shown,  was  the  only  general  to  whom 
warlike  operations  could  be  entrusted  when  Hugh 
de  Lacy  strove  to  wrest  Ireland  from  the  feeble 
hands  of  the  young,  king.  An  untimely  death,  how- 
ever, overtook  him  also.  He  died  in  April  1231, 
without  offspring,  leaving  his  vast  estates  in  England 
and  Ireland  to  his  brother,  Richard  Marshall.  And 
now  the  troubles  with  the  Marshall  family  began. 
King  Henry  had  come  to  man's  estate,  and  seems 
to  have  been  disposed  to  resent  the  state  of  tutelage  in 
which  the  Marshalls  had  kept  him.  He  was  intensely 
weak,  and  instead  of  feeling  grateful  for  faithful  service 
was  keen  to  lend  a  ready  ear  to  every  sinister  sugges- 
tion which  interested  flatterers  were  only  too  willing  to 
pour  into  his  mind.  The  young  king  had,  in  addition, 
yielded  himself  completely  into  the  hands  of  Poitevin 
favourites  headed  by  Peter  des  Roches,  Bishop  of 
Winchester.  Against  this  fatal  course  Earl  Richard 
Marshall  protested  as  a  true  Englishman,  in  a  spirit 
and  tone  worthy  of  his  great  father,  the  old  earl. 
Matthew  Paris,  in  his  Historia  Anglorum,  tells  us  of  the 
angry  and  insulting  reply  of  the  bishop  to  the  earl's 
remonstrance.  The  bishop  declared  in  the  royal  name, 


THE    WARS   OF  MEATH  AND    OF  KILDARE.      297 

that  the  king  would  select  any  foreigners  he  pleased  to 
defend  his  crown  and  kingdom,  and  that  these  foreign 
friends  would  know  how  to  compel  rebellious  barons 
to  do  their  duty.1  Hence  arose  what  is  called  the  War 
of  Kildare.  Earl  Richard  and  his  friends  at  once 
withdrew  from  the  Court  and  retired  to  his  castles 
on  the  Welsh  frontier,  where  he  made  an  alliance  with 
Prince  Llewellyn,  ever  ready  to  engage  in  war  against 
the  English  sovereign,  and  to  utilise  every  malcontent 
who  could  assist  him.  The  king  and  his  Pokevin  and 
Breton  favourites  met  that  move  by  a  declaration  of  the 
forfeiture  of  Marshall's  estates  and  their  division  among 
the  foreigners.  The  year  1233  was  marked  by  active 
operations  along  the  Welsh  border.  The  king  marched 
from  Worcester  against  the  earl  and  his  allies.  The 
fortune  of  war  was,  as  usual,  somewhat  diversified, 
but,  on  the  whole,  it  went  against  the  king  and  in 
favour  of  Earl  Richard  and  the  patriotic  party.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  next  year,  1234,  Henry  III., 
changing  his  purpose  after  his  manner,  determined 
to  dismiss  his  foreign  advisers,  and  accordingly  sent 
ambassadors  to  make  peace  with  Earl  Richard.  Before 
their  arrival,  however,  Earl  Richard  had  passed  over 
to  Ireland,  invited  thither  by  false  friends  who,  in 
union  with  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  were  compassing 
his  destruction  ;  foremost  among  whom  was  the  earl's 
trusted  friend  and  confidant  Geoffrey  de  Marisco,  the 
nephew  of  Archbishop  John  Comyn. 

Geoffrey  de  Marisco,  or  Geoffrey  Marsh,  as  we 
might  modernise  the  name,  had  often  been  chief  ruler 
of  Ireland,  was  well  skilled  in  all  the  arts  of  guile 
and  statecraft,  and  thought  he  saw  a  chance  open  to 


1  Matthew  Paris,  Hist.  Anglor.,  ii.,  354  (Rolls  Series). 


298  IRELAND. 

him  of  gaining  a  share  in  the  spoil  which  the  con- 
fiscation of  the  Marshall  estates  would  produce. 
Marisco,  though  deep  in  the  earl's  confidences,  was, 
indeed,  all  the  while  in  secret  league  with  Maurice 
Fitz-Gerald  the  justiciary,  Hugh  de  Lacy,  and  Richard 
de  Burgh,  the  bitter  enemies  of  Richard  Marshall. 
With  their  aid  he  concerted  a  plan  to  entice  the  earl 
to  his  destruction.  To  prevent  Earl  Richard  making 
peace  with  the  king,  he  sent  messengers  to  the  earl, 
telling  him  that  the  nobles  of  Ireland  were  plundering 
his  lands  by  royal  command ;  this  led  the  earl  to 
Ireland  boiling  with  rage.  Then,  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  the  Irish  barons,  he,  with  the  help  of 
Peter  des  Roches,  forged  royal  letters  ordering  the 
king's  Irish  vassals  to  arrest  the  earl  for  his  treason, 
which  letters  Geoffrey  de  Marisco  took  good  care  the 
earl  should  behold  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  Ireland. 
Richard  Marshall  landed  in  Ireland  in  the  February 
of  1234,  accompanied  by  fifteen  knights  alone,  trusting 
in  the  goodness  of  his  cause,  and  in  the  resources 
of  his  Irish  estates  to  furnish  him  with  abundant 
help.  He  had,  however,  the  most  dangerous  of 
enemies  in  Geoffrey  de  Marisco.  He  was  most 
dangerous  because  he  was  a  false  friend,  ever  luring 
the  earl  on  to  destruction  by  counsel  like  that  which 
Hushai  the  Archite  gave  to  Absalom.  Earl  Marshall, 
when  he  arrived,  found  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald  the  jus- 
ticiary, Hugh  de  Lacy,  Earl  of  Ulster,  and  Richard  de 
Burgh  arrayed  against  him,  plundering  his  lands  and 
capturing  his  castles.  He  wished  to  enter  into  negotia- 
tions with  them  ;  but  De  Marisco  was  at  hand  to  stir 
up  strife.  "Why  do  you  hesitate,  or  what  do  you 
fear?"  was  his  artful  suggestion.  "We  will  not 
believe  that  you  are  the  son  of  the  victorious  William, 


THE    WARS   OF  MEATH  AND    OF  KILDARE.      299 


the  old  Marshal,  who  never  once  turned  his  back  on 
his  foes."  Then,  touching  upon  his  family  claims,  he 
continued,  "  Lo  !  victory  is  at  your  doors.  Consider, 
too,  thy  hereditary  rights  derived  to  thee  from  thy 
grandfather  Strongbow,  and  show  thyself  not  unworthy 
of  them."  Roused  by  this  speech,  he  flung  himself 
into  the  work  of  military  preparations,  and  speedily 
gathering  an  army  captured  Limerick  after  a  brief 
siege,  and  then,  returning  towards  Dublin,  recovered 
many  of  his  castles  which  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  conspirators,  who  fled  in  every  direction  before 
him.  They  retired,  indeed  ;  but  it  was  only  to  plot  the 
earl's  destruction  the  more  securely.  Hugh  de  Lacy 
and  his  friends  first  of  all  collected  from  every  quarter 
the  bravest  and  most  powerful  soldiers,  English  and 
Irish  alike,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
knights  and  two  thousand  infantry.  Then  they  sent 
the  Templars  to  the  Earl  Marshall,  demanding  a  truce. 
The  Templars  declared  that  they  were  the  official 
military  custodians  of  Ireland,  and  that  they  desired 
to  consult  the  king,  whether  they  should  defend  the 
country  by  force  or  quietly  surrender  it  into  the  earl's 
hands.  To  these  words  of  the  Templars,  Earl  Richard 
made  a  dignified  reply,  which  sheds  much  light  upon 
the  mediaeval  theory  of  feudal  relationships  between  the 
Crown  and  the  nobility.  The  Templars  had  accused 
him  of  treasonable  practices  against  the  sovereign  ;  to 
which  accusation  the  earl  responded  that  he  had  in 
nowise  acted  treasonably  against  the  sovereign,  be- 
cause the  king  had  deprived  him  of  his  office  of  Earl 
Marshal  and  of  his  estates  without  the  judgment  of  his 
peers,  though  he  was  always  prepared  to  submit  to  it. 
"Whence,"  continued  the  earl,  "I  am  no  longer  his 
man,  but  have  been  lawfully  absolved  from  allegiance  to 


300  IRELAND. 

him,  not  by  myself,  but  by  himself;  " — showing  us  that 
Henry  III.  was  simply  regarded  by  his  nobles  as 
primus  inter  pares,  and  that  the  allegiance  due  to  him 
was  regarded  as  a  conditional  bond  terminable,  like  a 
treaty  between  independent  nations,  upon  any  violation 
of  its  terms.  The  difference  between  the  position  of 
the  nobility  under  Henry  VIII.  and  under  Henry  III. 
can  best  be  measured  by  this  simple  reply.  If  one  of 
the  great  Tudor  nobles  rebelled,  Henry  VIII.  entered 
into  no  treaty  and  accepted  no  excuse,  but  simply  cut 
the  rebel's  head  off.  If  one  of  the  earlier  Henry's 
vassals  rebelled,  he  justified  himself  by  the  king's  own 
conduct,  and  the  king  himself  regarded  the  rebel  as 
acting  strictly  within  his  legal  rights.  It  is  evident  that 
the  theory  in  vogue  still  taught  that  the  sovereign  was 
Rex  Angloruni  but  not  Rex  Aiiglice,  and  that  the  great 
nobles  viewed  themselves  as  subsidiary  kings,  clad 
with  equal  sovereign  rights  and  privileges.  The  re- 
lation, indeed,  between  the  kings  of  England  and  their 
great  feudatories  was  scarcely  different  from  that  which 
existed  between  the  kings  of  Tara  and  the  subordinate 
princes  of  Ireland  ;  and  the  king  of  Tara  thought  never 
a  whit  worse,  but  perhaps  rather  the  better,  of  any  of 
his  subordinates  who  gave  him  the  chance  of  a  fight 
by  declaring  war  against  him.  When  the  quarrel  was 
fought  out  they  were  all  the  better  friends  afterwards, 
and  so  it  was  in  England  in  the  days  of  Henry  III. 

After  Earl  Marshall  had  thus  cleared  his  own 
conduct,  he  dismissed  the  Templars,  inviting  Hugh 
de  Lacy  and  his  friends  to  a  conference  touching  the 
conditions  of  the  truce  which  they  desired,  and  ap- 
pointing a  meeting  for  the  next  day  upon  the  Curragh 
of  Kildare.  He  then  retired  to  consult  with  his  friends. 
The  earl  was  himself  most  anxious  to  agree  to  the  terms 


THE    WARS   OF  MEATH  AND   OF  KILDARE.      301 


proposed  and  grant  a  truce,  but   Geoffrey  de  Marisco 
again  stepped  forward  with  his  treacherous  suggestions. 
He  reminded  Marshall  of  the  injuries  he  and  his  estate 
had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  opponents,  and  pointed 
out  that  the  possession  of  all    Ireland  lay   within  his 
grasp.     It  was  the  great  object  of  De  Marisco  to  lead 
the    earl  on  to    a   fight,   knowing  right   well   not    only 
that    his  adversaries    were    superior    in    numbers,   but 
also   that  a  large  number  of  the   earl's  own  followers 
would  desert  him  in  the  fray.     All  the  efforts  of  this 
wily  and  treacherous  counsellor  were  therefore  directed 
to  the  one  end  of  rendering  a  compromise  impossible. 
Earl     Richard    was    again      entrapped.        Next     day, 
April  ist,  1234,  he  advanced  to  the  Curragh,  followed 
by  an  army,  every  member  of  which — fifteen  knights 
alone  excepted,  whom  he  had  originally  brought  with 
him  from  England — was  in  the  pay  of  his  opponents ; 
while  Hugh  de  Lacy,  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald,  and  Richard 
de  Burgh  came  to  meet  him  from  the  opposite  direction 
with    one  hundred   and    forty    knights,   gathered  from 
every   part  of  Ireland,  and   all   thirsting  for    the    rich 
spoils  of  the  great  house  of  Marshall.     The   colloquy 
which  ensued  was  not  very  long.     The  allies  demanded 
a  truce.     Marshall,  acting  on  the  counsel  of  De  Marisco 
the  night  before,  refused  to  grant  one  till  De  Lacy  and 
his   friends   had    surrendered    his    castles    which    they 
had  seized.     Thereupon  Hugh   de  Lacy  declared  that 
there  and  then  they  would  stake  everything  upon  the 
issue  of  battle.      Then  it  was  that  the  earl  perceived 
the  toils  amid  which  he  was  enclosed.     The  false  and 
perjured  Geoffrey  now  stepped  forward  when    retreat 
was  impossible,  and,    contrary  to   his  own    words  the 
night    before,    proposed   to   the    earl  to   accede    to    the 
demands  of  Hugh  de  Lacy;  "  for,"  said  he,  "my  wife 


302  IRELAND. 

is  sister  of  that  great  man  Hugh  de  Lacy  ;  wherefore 
I  cannot  follow  thee  into  the  battle  as  thy  con- 
federate " — a  statement  which  first  opened  the  eyes  of 
the  earl  to  the  infamous  plot  against  him.  The  words 
of  the  chronicler,  Matthew  Paris,  as  he  dwells  on  the 
details  of  the  scene,  are  very  striking,  and  even 
picturesque.  The  treachery  of  De  Marisco  flashed 
at  once  upon  the  earl.  To  him,  therefore,  he  thus 
addressed  himself:  "Wicked  traitor,  did  I  not  just 
now  refuse  them  a  treaty  by  thy  advice  ?  It  would 
be  the  part  of  a  fickle  man  to  grant  that  which  I  have 
just  refused,  and  specially  because  I  would  then  seem 
to  do  it  from  fear  rather  than  affection.  I  know,  I 
know  that  I  have  been  this  day  betrayed  to  death,  but 
it  is  better  to  die  with  honour  for  the  sake  of  justice 
than  to  flee  from  the  fight,  and  thus  incur  the  reproach 
of  cowardice."  Then  viewing  his  brother  Walter 
riding  after  him,  he  ordered  him  to  be  sent  back  to 
his  nearest  castle,  committing  himself  to  the  fortune 
of  war.  Matthew  Paris  enters  at  great  length  into 
the  details  of  the  fight,  which  seems  to  have  largely 
centred  round  the  person  of  the  earl.  He  was  a 
mighty  warrior,  and  the  conspirators  feared  to  risk 
their  own  lives  in  a  conflict  with  him.  They  left  the 
battle  with  him  entirely  in  the  hands  of  mercenaries, 
whom  they  encouraged  by  the  hope  of  large  rewards. 
The  fight  was  a  long  and  tedious  one,  that  first  of 
April.  It  commenced  very  early  in  the  morning, 
about  five  o'clock,  and  continued  to  rage  till  eleven. 
Followed  by  a  few  faithful  friends,  the  earl  wrought 
wonders.  Before  he  joined  battle  he  reminded  his 
forces  that  he  had  taken  up  arms  for  the  sake  of 
justice,  for  the  laws  of  the  English  people,  and  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  Poitevin  and  Breton  favourites  who 


THE    WARS   OF  MEATH  AND   OF  KILDARE.       303 


were  ruining  the  land  :  words  which  show  that  this 
Irish  quarrel,  so  typical  of  many  another,  was  fought 
upon  English  issues  alone.  Then  he  flung  himself 
into  the  contest,  supported  merely  by  the  faithful  fifteen, 
while  the  traitorous  remainder  sought  shelter  in  the 
neighbouring  abbeys  and  churches.  The  battle  was 
a  prolonged  one,  but  the  result  was  not  doubtful. 
Fifteen  against  one  hundred  and  forty  were  odds  too 
heavy  for  any  band  of  heroes.  A  gigantic  Irishman, 
most  probably  from  Connaught,  had  been  specially 
hired  by  Richard  de  Burgh  to  do  battle  with  the  earl, 
and  for  this  purpose  had  been  armed  by  him  with  his 
own  armour.  When  the  giant  advanced  to  the  combat 
Earl  Richard  thought  from  his  insignia  that  he  was 
Richard  de  Burgh,  the  nephew  of  his  friend  and  ally, 
Hubert  de  Burgh,  Earl  of  Kent.  The  earl  did  not 
wish  to  imbrue  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  friend's 
kinsman,  but  warned  him  off.  "  Fly,  wicked  traitor, 
lest  I  slay  thee,"  said  Marshall.  "  I  will  not  fly," 
replied  the  giant,  stretching  forth  his  hands  to  pull  the 
helmet  oft"  the  earl's  head  ;  whereupon  Marshall  cut  oft' 
both  his  hands  with  one  blow  of  his  sword.  Another 
knight  then  rode  forward  to  avenge  his  comrade ; 
him  the  earl  split  in  two  from  the  head  to  the 
waist.  A  crowd  of  knights  and  soldiers  now  pressed 
round  the  earl  on  every  side.  His  faithful  steed 
was  slain,  and  then,  taking  advantage  of  his  position 
as  he  strove  on  foot  to  defend  himself  against  over- 
whelming numbers,  a  footfsoldier  inserted  a  long  Irish 
skene  between  the  joints  of  his  back  armour,  inflict- 
ing thereby  a  wound  which  rendered  him  helpless. 
The  earl  was  carried  captive  to  his  own  castle  of 
Kilkenny,  which  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald  had  captured  a 
short  time  before.  There  he  was  detained  and  closely 


304  IRELAND. 

guarded.  The  strength  of  his  constitution  was  such, 
however,  that  his  wounds  were  rapidly  healing,  his 
appetite  was  restored,  he  was  able  to  walk  about 
his  chamber,  and  even  beguile  the  monotony  of  the 
sick-room  by  playing  at  dice.  The  recovery  of 
Marshall  was,  however,  the  last  thing  the  conspirators 
desired.  They  introduced  a  surgeon,  therefore,  who 
proceeded  to  cauterize  his  wounds  in  the  rude  method 
of  those  times.  He  plunged  the  hot  iron  so  deep 
into  his  body  that  an  acute  fever  rapidly  ensued,  of 
which  the  earl  died  on  April  i6th,  and  was  imme- 
diately buried  in  the  chapel  of  the  Franciscans  in  his 
own  town  of  Kilkenny. 

Thus  ended  the  war  of  Kildare.  It  was  but  an 
episode  in  the  long  struggle  which  went  on  between 
the  barons  and  Henry  III.,  and  as  such  can  only  be 
fully  understood  in  connection  with  the  wider  history 
of  England.  It  is  interesting  for  us,  however,  as 
showing  how  Irish  conspirators  could  ally  themselves 
for  selfish  purposes  with  foreign  favourites  whom  all 
England  detested,  while  the  genuine  patriot  perished 
under  the  forms  of  law  utilised  by  these  conspirators  and 
favourites  for  their  own  purposes.  These  Irish  nobles 
— Anglo-Normans  though  they  were — cared  nothing 
and  consulted  nothing  for  the  interests  of  England  or 
of  Ireland  either.1  They  regarded  not,  as  in  De  Burgh's 


1  These  wars  of  Aleath  and  Kildare  seem  to  have  taught  the 
English  government  the  importance  of  the  Irish  commercial 
towns.  Well  would  it  have  been  for  this  country  had  more 
attention  been  paid  to  their  development  ;  in  that  case  many 
of  our  modern  difficulties  would  have  long  since  vanished. 
Henry  III.  with  the  help  of  the  seaports  established  an  Irish 
fleet  between  1233  ar"d  1241  ;  Dublin  and  Waterford  each  pro- 
vided two  galleys,  Cork,  Limerick,  and  Drogheda  one  each. 
In  1252  the  principal  towns  of  Ireland  formed  a  kind  of 
Hanseatic  league  for  mutual  defence.  Representatives  from 


THE    WARS  OF  MEATH  AND   OF  KILDARE.      305 

case,  the  interests  even  of  their  own  kith  and  kin. 
They  thought  of  nothing  but  the  rich  plunder  of 
Strongbow's  and  Dermot  MacMurrough's  heir  which 
lay  within  their  grasp,  and  for  the  sake  of  that  plunder 
Hugh  cle  Lacy,  Earl  of  Ulster,  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald  the 
justiciary,  and  Geoffrey  de  Marisco,  now  an  old  and 
hoary-headed  sinner,  were  willing  to  sacrifice  truth 
and  justice,  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  England 
and  of  Ireland  alike.  Can  we  wonder  that  Ireland 
did  not  prosper  and  that  English  rule  did  not  flourish 
when  administered  by  men  so  utterly  selfish,  so 
miserably  short-sighted,  so  flagrantly  treacherous  and 
unjust  ?  '  It  is  with  a  genuine  feeling  of  satisfaction 
and  a  sense  of  poetic  justice,  for  once  manifested  in 

Dublin,  Drogheda,  Limerick,  Cork,  Waterford,  etc.,  agreed  to 
meet  at  Kilkenny  every  three  years.  See  Gilbert's  Municipal 
Documents,  pp.  100,  130.  The  dangers  to  which  the  commer- 
cial life  of  Ireland  was  exposed  in  the  thirteenth  century  are 
clearly  set  forth  in  the  Norman-French  poem  on  the  walling  of 
the  town  of  Ross  or  New  Ross,  in  Wexford,  which  is  very 
interesting,  not  only  for  the  social  life  of>  the  period,  the  occu- 
pations and  trade  organizations  of  a  provincial  Irish  seaport, 
but  also  as  showing  the  destructive  influence  on  trade  and  com- 
merce exercised  by  the  early  quarrels  between  the  Geraldine? 
and  the  Butlers.  Seethe  poem  as  printed  in  Gilbert's  Account 
<if  Facsimiles,  part  iii.,  pp.  98-101. 

1  The  original  authorities  for  the  story  of  this  war  of 
Kildare  are  Matthew  Paris,  Chronica  Majora,  t.  iii.,  pp. 
265-90;  Historia  Anglorum,  t.  ii.,  pp.  .567-70;  Roger  of 
Wendover,  Chronica,  t.  iii.,  pp.  72-86 ;  Rymer's  Faidera, 
t.  i.,  p.  213.  The  Irish  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
of  Clonmacnois  and  of  Lough  Ce,  all  notice  this  war 
of  Kildare.  Sec  also  Gilbert's  Viceroys,  pp.  510-12. 
Mr.  Gilbert,  on  p.  51(1  (cf.  Riehey's  Short  Jfistory  of  the 
Irish  People,  eel.  Kane,  p.  109),  tells  the  strange  story  of 
the  disappearance  of  the  Marshall  family.  Isabel,  grand- 
daughter of  Dermot  MacMurrough,  died  in  1220,  and  was 
buried  in  Tintern  in  Wales.  She  is  said  to  have  predicted 
the  extinction  of  her  family  in  the  male  line,  which  happened 
in  124^,  when  her  fifth  and  last  son  Anselm  died  without  a 
son.  The  principality  of  Leinster  with  its  great  estates  was 

20 


306  IRELAND. 

this  life,  that  we  read  in  the  pages  of  Matthew  Paris  l 
that  Geoffrey  Marsh  reaped  nothing  from  his  treachery, 
but  died  eleven  years  afterwards  an  outcast,  a  pauper, 
and  an  exile ;  a  speaking  and  necessary  example  for 
his  age,  and  for  every  age,  that  the  ways  of  falsehood 
and  wrong  are  not  always  the  ways  of  success,  but  that 
in  this  imperfect  world  of  ours  the  deeds  of  the  evil- 
doer and  the  traitor  are  sometimes  amply  recompensed 
into  their  own  bosoms. 


then    divided    between    Anselm's    five     sisters    as     follows. 
Matilda  obtained  Carlow,  Jeanne    or  Joan  Wexford,  Isabella 
Kilkenny,  Sibilla  Kildare,  Eva  Dunamease  and  the  territory 
of  Leix,  now  called  the  Queen's  County. 
1  Hist.  Anglor.,  ii.,  494,  509. 


LECTURE  XIII. 
TWO   CENTURIES   OF  ANARCHY. 

I  PROPOSE  in  the  present  lecture  and  the  next  to 
take  a  rapid  survey  of  the  history  of  Ireland  from 
the  reign  of  Henry  III.  to  the  accession  of  Henry  VII. 
I  regard  the  triumph  of  the  House  of  Tudor,  repre- 
sented by  Henry  VII.,  as  marking  the  opening  of  the 
modern  period  of  Ireland's  history.  I  terminate  my 
survey  at  that  epoch,  therefore,  because  the  story  of  the 
manifold  and  stirring  incidents  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
including  the  Reformation  and  its  results,  will  require  a 
far  more  minute  study  than  we  can  now  hope  to  bestow 
upon  it.  At  some  future  time  I  hope  to  take  up  the 
history  of  Ireland  during  the  sixteenth  century.  I 
shall  then  have  to  begin  with  the  dawnings  of  the 
Reformation  in  Ireland,  and  shall  be  obliged  to  discuss 
its  religious  state  in  the  period  immediately  preceding 
the  Reformation  in  a  more  thorough  manner  than  I 
can  hope  to  do  in  the  present  course  of  lectures.  And 
we  shall  have  abundance  of  material  for  the  purpose. 
The  manuscript  resources  of  Ussher's  Library,  preserved 
among  the  muniments  of  this  University ;  tne  precious 
treasures  of  the  Irish  Record  Office,  never  yet  suffi- 
ciently utilised  for  this  purpose ;  the  manuscripts  of 
Marsh's  Library,  and  the  various  other  collections  in 
this  city  to  which  I  have  often  referred,  will  abundantly 
help  us  in  tracing  the  history  of  a  period  which  has 


308  IK  ELAND. 


hitherto  been  only  the  chosen  battlefield  of  rival  con- 
troversialists. If  ever  I  am  enabled  to  deal  with  it,  I 
hope  to  avoid  the  controversial  attitude  as  much  as 
possible,  and  shall  strive  to  treat  it  impartially  from 
the  historian's  standpoint  alone ;  for  undoubtedly  con- 
troversy saps  the  springs  of  impartiality,  and  gives  an 
unconscious  bent  to  even  the  fairest  mind. 

There  are  two  ways,  very  different  the  one  from  the 
other,  which  I  might  adopt  in  discussing  the  period  of 
Ireland's  history  now  under  consideration.  I  might 
patiently  follow  out  the  details  of  rebellions,  frays,  and 
forays  as  given  in  the  various  authorities,  English  and 
Irish.  These  authorities-  -contemporary  authorities,  too 
— are  numerous  enough,  so  numerous,  indeed,  that  one 
feels  somewhat  overweighted  with  the  mass  of  material. 
Quite  apart  from  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
which  were  compiled  in  the  seventeenth  century,  out 
of  much  more  ancient  documents,  we  have  on  the 
Celtic  side  authorities,  like  the  Book  of  Fenagh,  written 
about  A.D.  1300,  the  Annals  of  Lough  Ce,  the  Annals 
of  Dudley  MacFirbis  in  the  Irish  Archaeological  Series, 
and  the  numerous  other  collections  of  annals,  the 
origin  and  value  of  which  Mr.  O'Curry  discusses  in 
his  lectures.  Upon  the  English  side  we  have  the 
Annals  of  Friar  Clyn,  of  Thady  Bowling,  Chancellor 
of  Leighlin,  and  other  fragments  in  the  Irish  Archaeo- 
logical Series,  together  with  those  of  Pembridge  and 
Henry  of  Marleburgh  in  Camden's  Britannia.  Per- 
haps, indeed,  the  best  way  to  enable  you  to  realize 
how  copious  are  our  resources,  will  'be  to  refer  you  to 
Mr.  Gilbert's  Fac-sinriles  of  the  National  MSS.  of  Ireland. 
lie  has  published  a  letterpress  description  of  them; 
if  you  will  turn  to  the  Table,  at  the  close  of  Part  III., 
you  will  see  that  we  want  no  kind  of  literature, 


TWO   CENTURIES  OF  ANARCHY.  309 


poetical,  romantic,  or  historical,  to  enable  us  to  form 
a  just  estimate  of  these  troublous  ages.  When  we 
have  added  to  them  Rymer's  Fcvdera,  Prynne's  Records, 
Sweetman's  Calendars,  the  various  legal  records  printed 
by  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Gilbert's  Chartularies  and 
Municipal  Documents  in  the  Rolls  Series,  we  shall  feel 
ourselves  embarrassed  by  the  very  abundance  of  the 
historical  wealth  set  before  us. 

This  fact  has  its  own  drawbacks,  however.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  reputation  for  dulness  which  Irish 
history  has  hitherto  enjoyed,  has  largely  arisen  from 
the  fact  that  conscientious  workers  like  Leland  have 
been  bewildered  in  the  thicket  of  details  with  which 
they  found  themselves  surrounded.  They  have  done 
their  best  to  portray  them,  and  have  necessarily  failed 
to  interest  their  readers,  while  all  the  time  they 
seldom  tried  to  co-ordinate  the  history  of  Ireland  with 
that  of  England,  and  thus  arrive  at  the  true  solution 
of  England's  failure  in  this  country.  Just  let  me 
give  you  a  few  specimens  of  the  Annals,  from  Celt 
and  Anglo-Norman  alike,  and  then  you  can  easily 
judge  of  the  difficult}'  of  our  task.  I  take  first  an 
extract  from  the  Four  Masters'  account  of  the  year 
1250: — "  In  this  year  Felim  O'Conor  came  from  the 
north  with  a  numerous  force  out  of  Tyrone ;  he 
marched  into  Breifny,  and  thence  into  the  Tuathas,1 
accompanied  by  Conor,  son  of  Tiernan  O'Conor,  thence 


1  The  Tuathas,  or  Districts,  were  an  ancient  Irish  division 
in  the  east  of  the  county  Roscommon,  which  for  the  last  three 
centuries  has  formed  the  rural  deanery  now  called  Tarmonbarry. 
It  extended  from  the  northern  point  of  Lough  Ree  to  James- 
town on  the  Shannon,  thence  to  Elphin,  including  Strokestown, 
and  thence  again  to  Lough  Ree.  See O' Donovan's  note, Annans 
of  Four  Masters,  A.n.  1189;  and  the  map  prefixed  to  the 
Tribes  and  Customs  of  Hy-Ma uy,  Irish  Archaeological  Society, 
1843. 


310  IRELAND. 

into  Hy-Many,  and  they  expelled  Turlough  out  of 
Connaught,  who  again  went  over  to  the  English. 
Felim  then  collected  all  the  movable  property  of 
Connaught,  and  proceeded  with  it  across  the  Curlieu 
Mountains,  but  the  English  sent  messengers  after 
him,  and  a  peace  being  concluded  between  them,  his 
kingdom  was  again  restored  to  him.  The  hostages  of 
Connaught  were  blinded  by  the  English  at  Athlone. 
A  great  depredation  was  committed  by  Felim  on 
Cathal  O'Conor,  and  the  latter  was  driven  out  of 
Connaught.  A  great  army  was  led  by  Maurice  Fitz- 
Gerald,  Cathal  O'Reilly,  and  other  chiefs  into  Tyrone, 
and  remained  three  nights  at  Tullyhoge,  where  they 
sustained  much  injury  and  hardship,  but  obtained  no 
pledges  or  hostages  from  the  O'Neills  on  this  expedi- 
tion. Florence  MacCarthy  was  slain  by  the  English  of 
Desmond."  This  entry  deals  principally  with  the  west 
and  north-west.  A  century  later  the  Anglo-Norman 
Franciscan  friar,  John  Clyn,  of  Kilkenny,  has  just  the 
same  story  to  tell  of  the  south-east.  Thus,  we  read 
under  the  year  1345  in  Clyn's  Annals1 :  "About  Easter 
there  died  Lord  Maurice  Fitz-Gerald  and  Gerald  de 
Rocheford.  Also  the  Powers  burned,  destroyed,  and 
spoiled  the  whole  country  round  Waterford,  on  which 
account  certain  of  them  were  hanged,  drawn,  and 
quartered  at  Waterford."  On  the  Feast  of  the  Baptist, 
Maurice,  Count  of  Desmond,  attacked  the  Castle  of 
Menaht  with  a  large  army,  but  failed  to  capture  it.  There 

1  Irish  Archaeological  Society,  Dublin,  1849,  p.  31. 

-  The  Powers  were  an  Anglo-Norman  family  named  Poer, 
who  after  Strongbow's  invasion  dispossessed  the  O'Flanagans, 
the  original  Celts,  in  the  barony  of  Upperthird,  in  the  north- 
west of  the  co.  Waterford.  Two  centuries  had  completely 
assimilated  them  to  their  ancient  foes.  See  Irish  Topo- 
graphical Poems,  ed.  O' Donovan,  notes,  p.  l.xiii. 


TWO   CEXl'URIRS   OF  ANARCHY.  311 


was  war  between  Ralph  de  Uflford,  Justiciary  of  Ireland, 
and  Maurice  Fitz-Thomas,  Count  of  Desmond,  and  the 
justiciary  deprived  him  of  his  estates,  viz.,  Clonmel, 
Kerry,  and  Desmond,  confiscating  all  his  property  for 
the  king's  use ;  and  seized  the  Castle  of  Iniskysty,  in 
Kerry,  which  was  commonly  reputed  impregnable. 
Turlough  O'Conor  was  slain  by  an  arrow  among  his 
own  people.  Also,  on  Innocents'  Day,  the  Irish  of 
Slieve  Bloom  burned  Bordwell  and  slew  Robert  Grace 
and  other  Englishmen,  and  on  the  same  day  Carvill 
MacGilpatrick,  the  prince  of  his  country,  is  slain." 

Again  let  us  advance  a  century  farther,  and  take  the 
record  of  the  learned  Chancellor  of  Leighlin,  Thady 
Dowling.  Writing  concerning  1462,  he  tells  us  "Thomas 
Fitz-John,  of  the  Geraldines,  died.  He  at  first  bur- 
dened the  counties  of  Waterford,  Cork,  Kerry,  and 
Limerick  with  Irish  exactions.  Others  say  that,  on 
account  of  these  exactions  and  outrages  against  the 
king's  peace  and  the  laws  of  Ireland,  he  was  beheaded 
in  Drogheda  by  the  Viceroy  and  the  Earl  of  Worcester. 
Thomas  Fitz-John  usurping  upon  his  father  and 
going  to  Drogheda,  the  latter  gave  him  his  curse,  and 
said,  '  Thou  shall  have  an  ill  end.'  " 

You  can  easily  see  that  a  lecture  composed  of  details 
like  these  would  be  utterly  devoid  of  life  or  interest. 
It  would  be  as  impossible  to  weld  them  into  a  con- 
tinuous story,  and  as  useless  if  possible,  as  it  would 
be  to  compose  history  out  of  the  details  of  backwoods 
warfare,  or,  to  come  nearer  home,  out  of  the  wearisome 
story  of  Kerry  moonlight  outrages,  to  which  the  judges 
of  the  Parnell  Commission  have  been  doomed  to  listen. 
This  method  of  writing  the  history  of  our  period  I  shall 
steadily  avoid,  substituting  for  it  what  seems  a  more 
rational  plan.  I  shall  follow  the  main  lines  of  historical 


312  IRELAND. 

development,  tracing  Irish  troubles  up  to  their  true 
sources  in  English  political  and  national  quarrels, 
striving  to  co-ordinate  the  history  of  the  two  countries, 
and  dwelling  specially  on  certain  leading  events  which 
mark  the  three  centuries  with  which  we  deal.  First, 
then,  let  us  strive  to  gain  a  general  notion  of  English 
history  during  this  period.  It  may  be  divided  into 
two  great  sections:  from  1250  to  1400  forms  one 
section,  marked  by  external  wars;  from  1400  to  1500 
forms  another,  marked  by  internal  wars.  During  the 
century  and  a  half  from  1250  to  1400,  the  attention 
of  the  English  sovereign,  Parliament,  and  people,  was 
fixed  on  the  French  war  and  on  the  wars  with  Scotland 
and  Wales.  Ireland  during  that  period  was  simply 
looked  upon  as  a  good  recruiting  ground  for  soldiers 
and  a  very  bad  source  of  revenue.  The  thought  of 
English  statesmen  was  concentrated  on  two  objects  : 
defence  of  their  continental  dominions,  and  the  internal 
unification  of  their  own  island  of  Great  Britain.  During 
the  second  period,  comprising  broadly  the  whole  fifteenth 
century,  the  attention  of  England  was  centred  at  first 
upon  the  war  with  France,  and  then  upon  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses,  the  struggle  between  the  rival  houses  of 
York  and  Lancaster,  which  so  largelv  modified  the  life 
of  English  society,  and  exercised  influences  traceable  in 
our  modern  political  divisions.  These  great  movements 
— the  Welsh,  Scottish,  and  French  wars,  and  the 
struggle  of  Yorkists  with  Lancastrians — were  the  real 
sources  whence  flowed  Irish  misrule  and  confusion. 

Let  us  now  begin  with  the  time  of  Henry  III.  The 
long  reign  of  that  monarch  was  marked  in  England 
by  perpetual  struggles  between  the  Crown  and  the 
barons,  leading  up  to  the  development  of  parliamentary 
institutions,  which  took  their  final  shape  in  England 


TWO   CENTURIES  OF  ANARCHY  313 

and  Ireland  alike  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  thirteenth 
century — that  is,  between  the  years  1275  and  1300. 
During  the  long  and  weak  reign  of  Henry  III.  Ireland 
was  comparatively  peaceful.  Throughout  the  whole  of 
this  thirteenth  century  the  supremacy  of  the  English 
Crown  was  acknowledged  all  over  Ireland,  even  to  the 
remotest  corners  of  the  west.  The  kings  and  chief- 
tains of  the  Celtic  race  were  regarded  as  English  feuda- 
tories ;  they  were  summoned  to  help  their  liege  lord 
in  his  wars,  their  counsel  and  advice  were  accepted  ; 
their  succession  and  local  jurisdictions  were,  indeed, 
respected,  but  the  English  Crown  claimed  and  exercised 
supreme  authority  over  all  persons  and  things,  secular 
and  ecclesiastical  alike,  in  every  part  of  Ireland.  Of 
this  we  have  quite  sufficient  evidence  from  the  eccle- 
siastical side.  From  the  very  beginning  of  Anglo- 
Norman  rule  in  this  country,  the  Crown  of  England 
claimed  the  disposal  of  all  ecclesiastical  dignities,  and 
specially  of  the  bishoprics.  This  power  we  find  the 
Crown  exercising  in  every  part  of  Ireland,  even  in  those 
counted  the  most  Celtic.  The  four  great  archiepiscopal 
sees  of  Armagh,  Dublin,  Cashel,  and  Tuam,  were  of 
course  always  filled  by  the  English  sovereigns  ;  but  it 
is  not  till  we  actually  inspect  the  documents  which 
were  issued  on  these  occasions  that  we  can  realize  how 
complete  was  Anglo-Norman  supremacy  in  the  time  of 
King  John  and  Henry  III.  Armagh  was  away  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  O'Neills,  the  fiercest  antagonists 
of  the  English  in  Ireland.  The  primacy  fell  vacant  in 
1203,  but  King  John  determines  the  occupant  thereof 
as  absolutely  as  if  the  see  lay  in  Middlesex,  and  not  in 
Ulster.1  Tuam  was  away  in  the  west  of  Connaught, 

1  Sweetman's  Calentfar,  t.  i.,   p.  31,   No.   200.      This  may 
have    happened     in    some    measure,   however,     because    the 


314  IRELAND. 

at  the  very  centre  of  the  dominions  of  Phelim  O'Conor, 
whose  accession  was  duly  notified  to  Henry  III.  in 
I233,1  and  recognised  by  him.  The  archbishopric  of 
Tuam  fell  vacant  in  1235,  whereupon  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  submissively  report  the  vacancy,  not  to 
O'Conor,  but  to  Henry  III.,  and  pray  for  the  issue  of 
a  conge  d'e'lire ;  and  then  King  Henry,  when  granting 
the  licence,  directs  them  to  choose  a  man  able  to  rule 
the  Church,  faithful  to  the  king,  and  useful  to  the 
kingdom.2  But  it  was  not  merely  the  principal  sees 
which  the  Crown  thus  claimed.  The  royal  authority 
was  omnipresent  in  Ireland.  Killaloe  is  situated  on 
the  banks  of  the  Shannon,  and  is  even  still,  with  all 
our  railway  system,  a  spot  somewhat  difficult  of  access. 
It  was  in  the  thirteenth  century  in  the  heart  of  the 
dominions  claimed  by  the  O'Briens,  as  it  had  been  the 
favourite  seat  of  their  great  ancestor,  Brian  Boru.  The 
bishopric  of  Killaloe  fell  vacant  in  the  last  year  of 
King  John,  and  was  filled  up  by  him  with  a  prelate 
rejoicing  in  the  very  English  name  of  Robert  Travers/ 
Kilmore,  again,  was  in  those  times  generally  called 
Tirbrun.  It  was  an  ancient  episcopal  seat  in  the  very 


primate's  principal  residence  was  at  or  near  Drogheda.  The 
primates  have  lived  at  Armagh  only  since  the  last  century. 
The  pre- Reformation  primates,  and  the  post-Reformation 
primates,  too,  till  a  modern  period,  lived  at  the  Castle  of 
Tcrmonfeckin,  near  Drogheda,  and  used  St.  Peter's  Church 
in  Drogheda  as  their  Cathedral.  See  numerous  proofs  of  this 
in  a  volume  of  Dudley  Loftus'  MSS.  in  Marsh's  Library,  styled 
Precedents  of  Armagh,  being  extracts  from  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  century  registers  of  Armagh.  Cotton,  in  his 
Fasti,  notes  that  a  pre-Reformation  primate  speaks  with  great 
contempt  of  the  clean  and  chapter  of  Armagh  as  mere  Irish- 
men, living,  after  the  Irish  fashion,  "inter  Hibernicos/' 

1  Sweetman,  I.e.,  No.  2,11^. 

-   Id.,  No.  2,296. 

:t  Id.,  No.  738.     Cf.  Ware's  ttishops,  ed.  Harris,  p.  591. 


TWO   CENTURIES  OF  ANARCHY.  315 


midst  of  O'Reilly's  country,  but  still,  when  there  was 
an  episcopal  vacancy  in  1250,  the  Chapter  duly  signi- 
fied this  fact  to  Henry  III.  by  Patrick,  their  clerk,  and 
received  back  from  that  monarch  the  necessary  royal 
licence  to  proceed  in  the  matter  of  their  election.1  The 
royal  supremacy  was  better  recognised  in  1250  in  the 
county  Cavan  than  it  was  three  centuries  and  a  half 
later,  when  Queen  Elizabeth  was  unable  to  fill  the  see 
of  Kilmore  during  the  last  fourteen  years  of  her  reign, 
owing  to  the  wars  prevalent  in  that  district.2 

But  there  is  no  necessity  for  me  to  weary  you  with 
more  details  on  this  matter.  A  glance  into  Sweetman's 
Calendar  will  amply  prove  my  contention,  and  show 
that  no  part  of  Ireland  was  exempt  from  the  supreme 
dominion  claimed  by  the  English  sovereigns.  The 
most  distant  parts  of  Kerry,  as  Ardfert  ;3  the  wildest 
districts  of  Connaught,  as  Annaghdown,  on  Lough 
Corrib,  in  Galway ;  and  Elphin,  in  Roscommon — all  were 
as  obedient  in  ecclesiastical  matters  to  the  royal  licence 


1  Sweetman,  /.r.,  Nos.  3,046-47.  Cf.  Ware's  Bishops,  ed. 
Harris,  pp.  226,  227. 

-  Mant's  Church  History,  i.,  284. 

:i  The  see  of  Ardfert  and  other  distant  Irish  sees  were  often 
filled  up  by  Englishmen,  who  soon  grew  tired  of  their  epis- 
copal duties  in  such  wild  regions,  and  resigned  their  sees, 
retiring  upon  English  livings,  where,  like  the  returned  colo- 
nial bishops  of  our  own  time,  they  acted  as  assistants 
to  their  English  diocesans.  The  earliest  instance  of  such 
resignation  which  I  have  noted  is  that  of  John,  Bishop  of 
Ardfert,  a  monk  of  St.  Alban's,  who  died  in  1245  (see  Mat- 
thew Paris'  Hist.  An^ior.,  ii.,  398,  483,  511  ;  in.,  274,  296). 
This  abuse  was  flourishing  till  the  Reformation.  Two  Irish 
bishops  were  in  succession  rectors  of  Laindon  in  Essex. 
John,  Bishop  of  Ardfert,  1466-83,  was  the  first.  At  his  death 
James  Hale,  Bishop  of  Kildare,  was  appointed.  They  were 
both  suffragans  of  the  Bishop  of  London.  James  Hale  was  an 
English  Eranciscan  friar.  Ware's  BisJiops,  ed.  Harris,  will 
supply  many  other  examples. 


316  IRELAND. 

as   the  great  eastern    ports  of  Dublin,   Drogheda,  and 
Water  ford. 

The  English  Crown  exercised  again,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Pope,  the  power  of  taxation  all  through  the 
island.  We  have  authentic  records  still  existing  which 
prove  this.  During  the  thirteenth  century  clergy  and 
laity  alike  were  frequently  subjected  to  a  tax  called 
Decimce  Saladince,  an  impost  which  had  its  origin  in  the 
sensation  experienced  throughout  Europe  when  the 
intelligence  arrived  that  the  Holy  City  had  been  cap- 
tured by  Saladin.1  The  laity  soon  escaped  from  their 
liability  to  pay  this  tax,  but  the  Pope  and  king  united 
to  enforce  it  upon  the  clergy.  This  impost  was  the 
occasion  of  frequent  taxations  or  enrolments  of  the  value 
of  the  ecclesiastical  livings  of  the  Churches  of  England 
and  Ireland,  which  have  survived  to  our  times.  The  kings 
of  England  soon  learned  to  turn  this  ecclesiastical  tax 
to  their  own  purposes  of  statecraft.  Edward  I.,  son  of 
Henry  III.,  was  a  very  strong  sovereign,  and,  like  most 
men  of  his  type,  did  not  at  all  relish  the  abstraction 
from  his  realms  of  large  sums  by  papal  officials.  Some- 
times, therefore,  he  seized  the  proceeds  when  they  were 
collected.  At  other  times  he  obtained  a  grant  of  these 
papal  tithes  for  a  long  term  of  years  by  a  little  judicious 
pressure  upon  the  Pope.  By  the  year  1300  the  taxa- 
tion of  the  clergy  was  quite  as  much  a  source  of  royal 
as  of  papal  revenue.  In  the  year  1302  the  Pope  and 
the  English  Crown  required  money,  and  they  both 
agreed  to  tax  the  Irish  clergy.  The  Pope  imposed  the 
tax,  and  then,  to  ensure  its  collection,  appointed  the 
English  sovereign  its  chief  collector,  granting  him  half 
the  annual  proceeds.  A  new  taxation  or  enrolment  was 


1  See  Bishop  Reeves'  Ecclesiastical  Antiqq.,  Introd.,  p.  5. 


TWO   CENTURIES   OF  ANARCHY.  317 


made  for  that  purpose,  which  was  discovered  in  the  year 
1807  ni  ^e  office  of  the  Remembrancer  of  His  Majesty's 
Exchequer  at  Westminster,  whither  it  had  been  removed 
in   the    year  1323,  nearly  five   hundred  years    before. 
These    records  were    deposited    in   a    leathern    pouch, 
marked  with  the  name  "  Hibernia,"  and  there  they  had 
been  consigned  to  oblivion.     What  an  idea  this  simple 
incident  gives  you  of  the  fixity,  the  continuity,  of  the 
English  record  system,  and  of  the  vast  historical  riches 
we  may  hope  to  gain  from  thence  whenever  that  system 
is  thoroughly  explored!     That  taxation  of  1302,  thus 
providentially  recovered,  has  become  the  basis  of  Dr. 
Reeves'  great  work  called  the  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities  of 
Down,  Connor,  and  Drotnorc.     This  taxation  has  within 
the  last  few  years  been  published  in  a  complete  form 
in  the  series  of  Calendars,   edited  by  Mr.    Svveetman, 
to  which  I  have  so  often  referred  ;  and  it  is  useful  for 
our  special  purpose,  because  it  shows  that  the  king's 
financial  agents,  Richard  de  Hereford,  treasurer  of  Ire- 
land, and  William  de  Ry  vere,  canon  of  Sarum,  exercised 
their  powers  in  every  part  of  the  country,  and  collected 
taxes    which  "were   devoted    to    the  support  of   Queen 
Margaret  and  the   Prince  of  Wales  as  much  as  to  the 
relief  of  the  papal  treasury  in  Clogher,  in  Tirbrun  or 
O'Reilly's  country,  in  Raphoe  or  O' Council's  country, 
in  Ardagh  or  O'Rourke's  country,  and  even  in  the  far 
distant  diocese  of  Killala  in  the  west  of  Mayo.     These 
facts,  which  will  be  found  set  forth  at  greater  length  in 
the  Introduction  to  the  Antiquities  of  Down  and  Connor 
by  Bishop  Reeves,    amply   prove  that  about  the  year 
1300  English  dominion  and  authority  were  more  widely 
respected  in  Ireland  than  they  were  two  or  even  three 
centuries  later.1 


See  Dean  Butler's  notes  to  the  treatise  De  Concilia  Hiber- 


3i  8  IRELAND. 

Let  us  now  take  a  rapid  survey  of  the  course  of  his- 
torical evolution  in  this  country.  Henry  III.  was  weak 
and  in  continual  conflict  with  his  barons.  He  endea- 
voured, therefore,  to  throw  the  care  of  Ireland  upon  his 
eldest  son.  Ireland  then  played  the  same  part,  and 
served  the  same  office,  as  Wales  does  now  in  the  British 
Constitution.  It  was  regarded  as  the  natural  inherit- 
ance and  the  birthright  of  the  sovereign's  eldest  son; 
and,  if  Wales  had  not  been  so  soon  conquered,  the 
sovereign's  eldest  son  might  still  be  called  Lord  of 
Ireland,  and  not  Prince  of  Wales.  Henry  III.  did 
not  forget  that  his  own  father,  the  favourite  son  of 
Henry  II.,  had  been  Lord  of  Ireland,  and  so  we  find 
that  in  1249  Edward,  the  king's  son,  had  a  grant  of  the 
profits  of  Ireland,  which,  I  fear,  were  not  very  large,  to 
fortify  Gascony,1  and  then  in  1253  the  same  Prince 
Edward  was  appointed  Lord  of  Ireland  upon  his  mar- 
riage with  the  Infanta  of  Spain,  all  writs  to  run  in  the 
prince's  name  and  his  great  seal  to  be  formed  after  the 
model  of  the  great  seal  of  England.-  Prince  Edward, 
however,  never  seems  to  have  cared  for  his  Irish  lord- 
ship, and  we  cannot  wonder  at  his  dislike.  Gascony 
and  France  were  far  gayer  and  brighter  places  than 
Ireland,  and  it  required  a  special  mandate  from  the 
sovereign,  ordering  the  prince  to  cross  from  Gascony  in 
the  year  1255,  before  he  could  drag  himself  to  fulfil  his 
Irish  duties.  A  royal  residence  was,  however,  just  as 
little  fruitful  of  benefits  for  our  distracted  land  in  the 
days  of  Prince  Edward  as  in  those  of  his  grandfather, 


nice,  p.  2^,  in  the  Irish  Archaeological  Miscellany,  vol.  i. 
Dublin,  1846. 

1  Sweetman's  Calend.,  t.  i.,  Nos.  3,021,  3,022. 

-  Rymer's  Fwdera,  t.  i.,  pp.  308,  327,  341  ;  Leland's  History 
of  Ireland,  t.  i.,  p  228.  Dublin,  1/73. 


TWO   CENTURIES  OF  ANARCHY.  319 

Prince  John.  Edward,  like  his  grandfather,  escaped  to 
London,  and  then  to  France,  as  quickly  as  possible, 
leaving  to  justiciaries,  as  before,  the  care  of  his  Irish 
dominions.  Under  these  officials  the  development  of 
Irish  institutions  followed  closely  upon  the  lines  marked 
out  in  England.  Ireland  simply  imitated  England  in 
such  matters.  Here  now  occurs  one  of  the  great  land- 
marks of  Irish  history,  upon  which  I  would  fain  fix  your 
attention. 

The  year  1295  saw  the  first  really  representative 
parliament  in  England,  and  Ireland  soon  followed  suit. 
Ireland,  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  was 
particularly  happy  in  its  viceroy,  Sir  John  Wogan,  to 
whom  Edward  I.  entrusted  the  chief  government  of 
this  island  for  a  much  longer  period  than  was  usual. 
Wogan  came  here  in  1295,  tne  verv  vear  when  Parlia- 
ment arrived  at  its  full  maturity  in  England.  He  sur- 
veyed the  evils  of  the  country  and  tried  to  find  a  remedy 
for  them.  For  this  purpose  he  summoned  the  first  real 
Parliament  which  ever  met  in  Ireland.  It  was  modelled 
upon  the  English  lines,  and  assembled  about  the  year 
1297.  I  say  it  was  the  first  real  parliament  that  met  in 
Ireland;  and  yet  you  will  often  read  of  parliaments  both 
in  England  and  Ireland  long  before  this  period.  They 
were  not,  however,  parliaments  in  our  sense  of  the  word, 
meaning  thereby  representative  assemblies.  The  par- 
liaments prior  to  the  year  1295,  whether  in  England  or 
Ireland,  were  merely  meetings  of  the  Great  Council  of 
the  realm,  where  the  great  barons  assembled  to  enact 
laws  and  give  advice  to  the  sovereign.  The  origin  and 
growth  of  parliamentary  institutions  is,  however,  much 
too  wide  a  subject  to  be  discussed  as  part  of  a  lecture  ; 
and  there  is  the  less  necessity  for  doing  so  as  Bishop 
Stubbs,  in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  his  Constitutional 


320  IRELAND. 


History,  and  more  succinctly  in  the  introduction  to  his 
Select  Charters,  has  treated  the  history  of  parliamentary 
development  with  a  master's  hand,  tracing  its  course  till 
it  arrived  at  full  maturity  in  the  year  1295.' 

Now  let  us  fix  our  attention  on  Sir  John  Wogan's 
parliament  of  1 296  or  1 297,  the  first  really  representative 
assembly  which  Ireland  ever  saw.  We  learn  from  its 
records,  derived  from  the  Black  Book  of  Christ  Church, 
Dublin,  the  objects  of  its  meeting.  The  justiciary  desired 
the  establishment  of  peace  and  concord  throughout 
Ireland,  and  with  this  end  in  view  issued  writs  to  the 
prelates  and  barons  as  usual,  adding  to  them  the  new 
element  of  two  knights,  elected  by  each  of  the  ten  coun- 
ties then  recognized — Dublin,  Loutb,  Kildare,  Water- 
•ford,  Tipperary,  Cork,  Limerick,  Kerry,  Connaught, 
and  Roscommon ;  and  two  from  each  of  the  five 
liberties  of  Meath,  Wexford,  Carlow,  Kilkenny,  and 
Ulster.  This  assembly  enacted  many  useful  laws,  and 
in  particular  dealt  with  two  real  evils  which  Wogan  re- 
cognized as  eminently  dangerous  to  the  State.  One  was 
the  right  claimed  by  the  great  nobles  of  waging  private 
wars  among  themselves.  This  parliament  enacted 
that  no  baron  should  dare  to  make  war  except  by 
licence  from  the  chief  governor  of  Ireland,  or  by  special 
mandate  from  the  king.  The  other  evil  recognized  by 
Wogan  as  a  specially  crying  one  was  the  gross  neglect 
of  their  duties  by  the  great  barons,  who  had  obtained 
their  estates  on  condition  of  guarding  the  marches  or 
boundaries  of  the  English  settlements.  They  neglected, 
in  fact,  their  duties,  and  then  Satan  provided  mischief 

1  See  also  about  the  history  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  Irish 
Legislative  Systems,  by  the  Right  Hon.  J.  T.  Ball,  LL.D., 
chap,  i.,  and  the  authorities  quoted  by  him  on  p.  217.  Dublin  : 

1888. 


TWO   CENTURIES  OF  ANARCHY.  321 


in  abundance  for  idle  hands  to  do.  This  parliament 
peremptorily  ordered  the  owners  of  the  great  estates 
to  return  to  their  posts,  reminded  them,  in  modern 
phraseology,  that  property  had  its  duties  as  well  as 
its  rights,  and  threatened  them  with  the  confiscation 
of  their  lands  and  castles  if  they  did  not  fulfil  the 
conditions  on  which  they  were  granted.  But  I  must 
not  be  led  aside  from  my  fixed  purpose  to  avoid 
overmuch  of  detail.  If  you  wish  to  see  more  of  the 
legislative  effects  of  this  earliest  Irish  parliament  you 
should  consult  Dean  Butler's  reprint  of  its  record,* 
or  Leland's  analysis  thereof,  as  given  in  the  first 
volume  of  his  History  of  Ireland,  pp.  252-58.  Hence- 
forth parliaments  became  frequent.  Sir  John  Wogan 
was  himself  a  great  believer  in  parliamentary  action. 
In  1310  he  held  one  at  Kildarc,  and  in  1311  another 
at  Kilkenny,  where  burgesses  from  the  boroughs  seem 
to  have  taken  their  seats  for  the  first  time  side  by  side 
with  the  knights  of  the  shires.  This  last  parliament 
devised  a  method  of  carrying  on  parliamentary  business 
which  might  well  be  commended  to  the  present  House 
of  Commons  ;  and,  curiously  enough,  partook  of  none  of 
that  internecine  spirit  commonly  associated  with  the 
name  of  Kilkenny.  It  ordered  that  all  business  should 
be  referred  to  a  committee  of  twenty-five  persons,  which 
said  committee  was  then  to  be  reduced  by  successive 
elections  to  one  person  who  cannot  differ  from  himself, 
"  qui  a  seipso  dissentire  non  potest," — a  first-rate  plan 
to  secure  unanimity  and  despatch  in  business. 

But  the  story  of  Irish  anarchy  and  English  failure 
grows  upon  our  hands,  and  will  afford  ample  materials 
for  another  lecture. 

*  See  his  work  De  Concilia  Hebernice  in  the  Irish  Archa'i.- 
logical Miscellany,  vol  i.,  Dublin,  1846. 

21 


LECTURE   XIV. 

THE    WARS   OF  BRUCE  AND    OF  THE  ROSES. 

SIR  JOHN  WOGAN  was  the  nearest  approach  to 
a  permanent  English  viceroy  which  Ireland  ever 
nad  in  those  early  ages.  Edward  I.  was  a  strong  and 
vigorous  king,  and  supported  a  vigorous  servant  when 
he  found  him.  And  Wogan's  lot  was  cast  in  stirring 
times,  which  have  left  their  mark  deep  printed  on  Irish 
history.  He  not  only  inaugurated  parliamentary  insti- 
tutions in  Ireland,  he  also  put  a  stop  to  the  perpetual 
struggles  between  De  Burgh,  Earl  of  Ulster,  and  the 
Fitz-Geralds  of  Kildare  and  of  Desmond.  He  advanced 
a  step  further,  and  effected  what,  in  the  eyes  of  a  war- 
like monarch  like  Edward  I.,  must  have  been  specially 
meritorious:  he  made  Ireland  a  source  of  strength  instead 
of  weakness  to  the  English  Crown.  Edward  I.  was 
consumed  with  a  thirst  for  the  unification  of  Great 
Britain.  He  thoroughly  subjugated  Wales  between  the 
years  1276  and  1284.  In  1294  he  entered  upon  a  war 
with  Scotland,  which  lasted  till  his  death  and  for  years 
afterwards.  That  war  was  a  fatal  one  for  Ireland's 
prosperity.  In  the  earlier  years  of  it  the  barons  and 
soldiery  of  Ireland  lent  effective  help  to  Edward  I.  In 
the  third  year  of  the  great  Scottish  war,  that  is  in 
1296,  Sir  John  Wogan  was  able  to  lead  a  large  Irish 
contingent  into  Scotland,  headed  by  De  Burgh,  Earl  of 
Ulster,  Theobald  Butler,  and  John  Fitz-Thomas  Fitz- 


THE    WARS  Of'  BRUCE  AND   OF   THE   ROSES.     323 

Gerald.      We    have    fortunately    still    surviving    some 
documents    shedding    light    on    this    period.       In    the 
Documents  Illustrative  of  the  History  of  Scotland,  edited 
by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Stevenson  (Edinburgh  :  1870),  t.  ii., 
p.   124,  we  find  an   enumeration  of  the  various  forces 
sent  from   Ireland  for  the   conquest  of  Scotland,    with 
the  names  of  their  captains,   including  De  Burgh,  Earl 
of  Ulster,  and  members  of  other  leading  Anglo-Norman 
families,  as  Butler,  Fitz-Gerald,   Rochefort,   Barry,  and 
Cantoke,  at  that  time  Chancellor  of  Ireland.     In  this 
volume    and    at    the    same    spot,    we    have    an    epistle 
addressed  to  Edward  I.,  by  the   messenger  whom  he 
had   despatched  into  Ireland  to    expedite  the    succour 
he  had  been  promised   from  thence.     It    is    a  curious 
document,  giving  us  a  glimpse  into  the  life  of  the  Anglo- 
Normans  then   resident    in    Ireland.       The  messenger 
tells    the    king     that     he    had     been     obedient   to    his 
commands,  and  had  sought  out  the  Irish  barons.     He 
had  found  De  Burgh,  the  Earl  of  Ulster,  in  Connaught. 
The  earl  had  many  fair  words  for  the  king's  ambassador, 
was  ready   to  give   his   help,  but  when  pressed  for  a 
definite  date  when   his  assistance  might  be  expected, 
and    for  definite   statistics  as    to  the   amount  of  such 
assistance  the  earl  prudently  declined  to  answer.     And 
as  it  was  with  the  Earl  of  Ulster,   so  was  it  with  all 
the  other  barons.     They  too  had   fair  words  and  fine 
speeches  enough  for  the  King's  envoy,  but  they  gave  no 
satisfactory  assurances  such  as  a  prudent  general  would 
rely  on.     During  the  lifetime  of  Edward  I.,  the  English 
were    triumphant,    and    the    Scotch    were    everywhere 
defeated  notwithstanding  the  brilliant  and  heroic  efforts 
of  Sir  William  Wallace.     But  after  the  death   of  the 
king,  and  the  appearance  of  Robert   Bruce  upon   the 
scene,  matters  became  quite  changed  for  England,  and 


324  IKE  LAND. 

infinitely  more  so  for  Ireland.     The  Bruces  in  Scotland 
were  just    like  the  De   Lacys  in   Ireland,  of  whom   I 
have    spoken    so    much.       They    were    Anglo-Norman 
nobles  with  a  dash  of  Celtic  blood,  a  most  dangerous 
combination,  as  repeated  bitter  experience  has  taught 
the   government   of   England.1      Through   their   Celtic 
ancestors   they  had    some    shadowy   claims    upon    the 
throne  of  Ireland,  which  the  Scottish  war  with  England 
led   them   to    put    in   evidence.       After   the  victory   of 
Bannockburn,    in   1314,    Robert    Bruce    determined    to 
invade  Ireland.     He  effected  several  purposes  thereby. 
He  employed  his  brother  Edward,  who  had  begun  to 
discover  symptoms  of  dissatisfaction   with   his    subor- 
dinate position,  and  had  put  forward  claims  to  an  equal 
share  of  authority  over  Scotland.     He  created  an  effective 
diversion  against  English  military  operations,  and  com- 
pelled a  necessary  division  of  the  English  forces.      He 
prevented  Irish  troops  from  being  sent  over  to  Scotland, 
as  had  been  the  case  in  the  campaigns  against  Wallace, 
securing,  on  the  contrary,  the  co-operation  as  against 
England  of  the  great  Celtic  chieftains  of  Ireland,  espe- 
cially of  the  O'Neills  of  the  north,  who  were  separated 
from    him    only   by   a   few  miles    of   sea,   which    they 
could  cross  in  the  course  of  a  summer's  morning.     And 
Edward  Bruce,  too,  did  not  come  uninvited.    Fifty  years 
before,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  the  Irish  princes 
did  their   best  to  induce  the  Scandinavians  to  renew 
their  incursions.2     And  now  again,   as  we  learn    from 
the  petition  of  the   Irish  princes  to  Pope  John  XXII., 
the  discontented  Celtic  chieftains  forwarded  an  invitation 
to   Edward   Bruce  to  come  and  deliver  the  Hibernian 

1  See  Dugdale's  Baronage,  under  the  name  "  Bruce,"  for 
the  descent  of  that  family. 
-  See  p.  281  above. 


THE    WARS  OF  BRUCE  AND   OF   THE  ROSF.S.     325 

Scots  from  Anglo-Norman  dominion  as  his  brother  had 
delivered  their  Albanian  cousins.1  The  invasion  of 
Edward  Bruce  did  not,  however,  benefit  the  Celtic  party 
one  whit,  but  merely  involved  them  in  one  common 
ruin  with  their  Anglo-Norman  countrymen.  Edward 
Bruce  landed  on  the  Antrim  coast,  as  some  say  at  Red 
Bay  near  Cushendun,  or  more  probably  at  the  fine, 
commodious,  land-locked  harbour  of  Larne,  on  May 
25th,  1315.  He  came  with  three  hundred  ships  and 
a  large  army.  From  that  time  till  his  death  at  the 
battle  of  Faughart,  near  Dundalk,  on  the  I4th  of 
October,  1318,  a  period  of  three  years  and  a  half, 
Ireland  was  simply  a  hell  upon  earth.  Bruce  marched 
triumphant  throughout  Ireland,  penetrating  to  the  most 
distant  south  and  west,  ravaging,  destroying,  burning 
the  property  and  persons  of  clergy  and  laity  alike  ;  and 
then  whatever  the  Scots  spared,  the  armies  of  De  Burgh, 
Earl  of  Ulster,  or  of  the  justiciary  who  followed  upon 
his  footsteps,  took  care  to  finish.  It  would  be  simply 
impossible  to  give  you  within  my  limits  even  the  faintest 
conception  of  the  terrible  condition  of  Ireland  during 
those  years.  Everything  combined  to  intensify  the 
confusion.  The  Anglo-Norman  government,  being  in 
a  state  of  collapse,  was  confined  to  Dublin  and  a  few 
miles  around.  The  army  of  Bruce  came  insultingly  up 
to  Castleknock,  threatening  the  city  of  Dublin  itself  with 
capture.  We  have,  as  I  have  before  noted,  a  monument 
of  the  near  approach  of  Bruce  to  Dublin  in  the  old  city 
gate  near  St.  Audoen's,  the  one  relic  of  the  Danish 
walls  now  remaining.  The  citizens  were  so  terror- 

1  This  complaint  is  .contained  in  the  Scoti-Chronicon  of 
J.  Fordun.  It  will  be  found  in  an  English  version  in  the  Rev. 
R.  King's  Cliurcli  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  Hi.,  pp.  1119-35. 
It  is  well  worth  reading,  as  setting  forth  in  a  formal  manner 
the  indictment  of  the  Celts  against  the  Anglo-Normans. 


326  IRELAND. 

struck  at  the  approach  of  the  Scots  that  they  set  fire  to 
the  old  Ostman  suburb  on  the  north  side  of  the  Liffey  ; 
pulled  down  the  Dominican  Abbey,  which  then  stood 
where  the  King's  Inn  now  shelters  our  legal  brethren ; 
and  with  the  stones  extended  the  line  of  the  city  walls 
as  far  as  Bridge  Street,  leaving  St.  Audoen's  arch  and 
gateway  a  solitary  thing  in  the  midst  of  a  wilderness  of 
surrounding  houses.  The  Anglo-Norman  rule  at  Dublin 
was  weak ;  but,  far  worse  still,  the  Anglo-Norman  nobles 
throughout  the  country  were  as  divided  and  as  mutually 
hostile  as  ever,  even  in  the  presence  of  their  foes.  They 
could  not  unite  even  for  the  purposes  of  self-defence. 
Richard  de  Burgh,  Earl  of  Ulster,  when  marching  to 
meet  Edward  Bruce  upon  his  landing  in  Antrim,  met 
Butler,  the  Lord  Deputy,  marching  from  Dublin  for  the 
same  purpose.  De  Burgh  declined  the  Deputy's  help, 
and  soon  found  himself  reduced  to  retreat  before  the 
united  forces  of  Scotland  and  the  northern  O'Neills. 
The  Celtic  portion  of  the  population  were  just  as  hope- 
lessly at  variance  among  themselves.  Phelim  O'Conor, 
King  of  Connaught,  united  his  forces  with  De  Burgh 
in  the  first  instance,  and  marched  with  him  as  far  as 
Coleraine.  There  Edward  Bruce  entered  into  negotia- 
tions with  O'Conor,  striving,  and  with  success,  to 
detach  him  from  the  side  of  De  Burgh.  While  Phelim 
O'Conor  was  thus  betraying  his  English  allies  to  the 
Scotch  invader,  a  cousin  of  his  own,  Roderick  O'Conor, 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt  in  Connaught  against  King 
Phelim  himself.  Henceforth,  all  Ireland  was  aflame 
with  war  and  violence.  Every  man's  hand  was  against 
his  fellow.  Every  kingdom,  every  petty  principality, 
found  a  pretender  to  challenge  the  rule  and  ownership 
of  its  lawful  chief,  till  at  last  the  Celts  who  had  invited 
Edward  Bruce  grew  weary  of  their  guest,  and  hated  him 


THE    WARS   OF  BRUCE  AND    OF  THE  ROSES.    327 

with  a  perfect  hatred.  The  Anglo-Normans  were,  as 
the  Celts  knew  right  well,  bad  enough,  but  the  Scoto- 
Normans  were  ten  times  worse,  and  no  one  rejoiced 
more  than  the  Celtic  annalists  when  the  battlefield  of 
Dundalk  put  an  end.  to  the  invasion  of  the  Bruces. 
How  bitterly  must  the  Celtic  princes  have  felt  them- 
selves deceived  when  the  ancient  documents  embodied 
by  the  Four  Masters,  A.D.  1318,  record  with  exultation 
the  defeat  of  the  champion  they  had  themselves  chosen 
in  the  following  words  :  "  Edward  Bruce,  the  destroyer 
of  the  people  of  Ireland  in  general,  both  English  and 
Irish,  was  slain  by  the  English  through  dint  of  battle 
and  bravery.  And  no  achievement  had  been  performed 
in  Ireland  for  a  long  time  before,  from  which  greater 
benefits  had  occurred  to  the  country  than  from  this  ; 
for  during  the  three-and-a-half  years  that  this  Edward 
spent  in  it,  a  universal  famine  prevailed  to  such  a  degree, 
that  men  were  wont  to  devour  one  another."  l 

The  internal  disorganization  resulting  from  the  four- 
years'  invasion  of  the  Bruces  was  terrible,  and  left 
its  mark  deep  upon  the  social  state  of  Ireland.  It 
relegated  Ulster  to  barbarism.  Under  the  Anglo- 
Norman  Earls  of  Ulster,  Down  and  Antrim  had 
attained  a  certain  degree  of  civilisation,  and  a  large 


1  The  Annals  of  Lough  Cc,  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnois, 
together  with  those  of  Pembridgc,  Grace,  Clyn,  and  Dowling, 
are  rich  in  details  of  the  Irish  war  with  Bruce.  The  narrative 
of  the  Clonmacnois  Annals  is  given  by  O' Donovan  in  his  notes 
to  the  }cars  1315-18  in  the  Four  Masters.  Dean  Butler's 
preface  to  Clyn's  Annals  draws  a  vigorous  and  impartial 
picture  of  the  results  of  Bruce's  invasion.  I  advisedly  call  it 
impartial,  because  he  condemns  his  own  ancestors,  the  Butlers, 
just  as  strongly  as  any  others.  Barbour  in  his  poem  of  77/6' 
Bruce  gives  a  good  account  of  it  from  the  Scotch  side.  See  the 
poem  as  published  by  the  Spalding  Club,  1856,  pp.  321-49, 
361-69,  416-24,  and  the  notes  on  p.  523.  Barbour's  poem  has 
also  been  published  by  the  Early  English  Text  Society. 


328  IRELAND. 

English  settlement  had  grown  up  there.  The  invasion 
of  the  Bruces  ruined  this  colony,  made  all  Ulster  from 
sea  to  sea  the  dominion  of  the  O'Neills,  circumscribed 
English  rule  within  the  counties  of  the  pale  *  bounded 
by  Louth  on  the  north,  and  by  the  re-introduction  of 
Celtic  tenures  and  land  customs,  gavelkind  and  repar- 
tition, destroyed  all  hopes  of  progress  till  the  English 
Government  took  in  hand  the  plantation  of  Ulster  in 
the  seventeenth  century.  The  invasion  of  Edward  Bruce 
flung  back  the  development  of  Ireland's  resources  a 
good  three  hundred  years.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the 
O'Neills  were  confined  to  Mid-Ulster.  In  the  year  1586 
Shane  O'Neill  had  one  of  his  chief  castles,  far  away  in 
the  south-east  of  Ulster,  at  Fathom,  on  Carlingford  Bay.2 
If  there  had  been  a  wise  and  a  strong  king  upon  the 
throne,  the  very  state  of  weakness,  misery,  and  con- 
fusion produced  by  this  Scottish  invasion  might  have 
led  to  a  social  and  political  reformation.  The  Celtic 
chieftains,  in  their  complaint  to  Pope  John  XXII., 
show  that  they  possessed  no  small  amount  of  political 
commonsense.  They  lay  all  the  blame  of  the  wretched 
state  of  Ireland  upon  the  true  cause.  They  do  not 
blame  the  English  sovereign,  but  they  do  blame  the 
chiefs  of  the  Anglo-Norman  colony  in  Ireland,  whom 

1  The  term   "pale"  was   not   used  to  express  the  English 
dominion   in  Ireland  till   the    fifteenth   century.     During  the 
two  first  centuries  of  English  dominion  their  sway  extended, 
as  I  have  already  shown,  over  the  greater  part  of  Ireland.     It 
was  only  the  misrule  of  the  fourteenth  century  led  to  its  con- 
traction within  the  four  counties  of  Louth,  Meath,  Dublin,  and 
Kildare,  which,  from  about  the  year  1400,  formed  the  March 
or  Pale  of  the  English.     See  a  dissertation  on  this  point  in 
Hardiman's    Introduction    to    the    Statute    of    Kilkenny,    pp. 
xxv-xxix,     in    Tracts  Ite/ating    to    Ireland,    vol.     ii.,     Irish 
Archaeological  Society,  Dublin,  1842. 

2  See  Bagnal's  description  of  Ulster  in   1586  in  the   Ulster 
Journal  of  Archaeology,  t.  ii.,  p.  151. 


THE    WARS  OF  BRUCE  AND   OF   THE   ROSES.     329 

they  describe  as  the  middle  nation,  neither  English  nor 
Irish,  whose  efforts  were  all  devoted,  not  towards 
strengthening  the  kingdom,  but  towards  aggrandizing 
themselves.  The  Irish  princes  had  petitioned  the 
Crown  for  measures  which  would  have  brought  about 
a  real  fusion  of  races,  and  a  thorough  union  amongst 
the  people  of  Ireland.  They  had  sought,  some  thirty 
years  earlier,  the  abolition  of  the  Brehon  law  system 
and  the  introduction  of  English  law  and  justice  through- 
out the  whole  country.1  They  had  demanded  that  the 
distinction  maintained  between  the  English  and  Irish 
should  cease,  recognising  it  as  fatal  to  any  hope  of 
progress  in  the  country,  and  Edward  I.  was  ready  and 
willing  to  grant  their  demands,  but  his  kindly  intentions 
were  defeated  by  his  Irish  advisers.  Two  or  three 
years  before,  in  the  year  1314,  they  had  sent  a  petition 
through  John  de  Hothom,  Bishop  of  Ely,  whom 
Edward  II.  had  sent  to  Ireland  to  report  on  its  state. 
In  that  document  they  had  demanded  a  settlement  of 
the  eternal  land  question,  desiring  to  hold  their  estates 
direct  from  the  Crown,  and  not  from  any  feudal  or 
palatine  lords ;  or,  to  quote  the  words  of  the  Irish 
princes:  "  About  two  years  ago,  a  letter  describing  these 


1  Leland's  History  of  Ireland,  i. ,  243.  The  Irish  offered 
8,000  marks,  or  ,£5,333  6s.  Srf.,  for  the  blessings  of  English  law. 
The  Celtic  land  tenures,  pasture-lands  held  in  common,  and 
arable  lands  apportioned  and  re-applotted  among  the  clans- 
men from  time  to  time,  were  destructive  of  any  improvements. 
Sir  John  Davis  well  notes,  that  no  man  will  build  or  improve 
where  his  children  have  no  right  of  inheritance.  Tanistry 
was  another  Celtic  custom  sure  to  produce  endless  confusion. 
The  Tanist  was  the  successor  of  the  actual  chief,  elected  by 
the  clansmen.  The  mode  of  election  was  not  by  votes.  It 
was  carried  on  in  a  more  characteristic  fashion,  and  the  tribe's 
choice  determined  by  the  strong  hand.  In  plain  language,  the 
best  fighter  of  the  chiefs  family,  legitimate  or  illegitimate, — for 
they  were  not  particular  about  such  trifles,— carried  the  day. 


330  IRELAND. 


outrages  in  a  clear  and  simple  way,  with  a  view  to 
obtaining  a  remedy,  was  addressed  by  several  of  the 
nobility  of  our  nation  to  the  king's  council,  and  also 
to  the  king  himself,  through  Lord  John  de  Hothom, 
who  is  now,  as  we  have  been  informed,  Bishop  of  Ely  ; 
and  we  also  made  a  courteous  proposal  to  the  same 
party,  that,  for  his  greater  profit  and  our  peace,  we 
should  hold  our  land,  that  land  which  is  by  righ 
our  own  exclusively,  immediately  from. himself ;  or  that 
he  should,  with  consent  of  both  parties,  himself  divide 
our  land,  between  us  and  them,  for  the  sake  of  avoiding 
wholesale  bloodshed.  But  never  since  have  we  obtained 
from  himself  or  his  council,  any  answer  whatsoever  to 
this  application;"  and  thus  again  another  lost  oppor- 
tunity was  added  to  the  sad  and  numerous  list  of 
similar  incidents  with  which  the  tale  of  English  rule  in 
Ireland  is  only  too  thickly  studded. 

The  long  reign  of  Edward  III.,  extending  from 
1327  to  I377>  brought  no  change  for  the  better  as 
far  as  Ireland  was  concerned.  We  might,  indeed, 
expect  this  beforehand,  and  without  any  study  of 
the  facts.  England  was  too  much  engaged  with  her 
internal  affairs,  and  her  foreign  policy,  to  think  of 
the  poor  afflicted  one  that  was  laid  at  her  very 
gates  full  of  all  kinds  of  political  and  social  sores. 
Abroad,  the  attention  of  Edward  III.  was  fixed  on 
France,  and  the  vain  effort  to  retain  England's  con- 
tinental dominions,  to  the  neglect  of  her  home  develop- 
ment. The  battles  of  Sluys  in  1340,  of  Cressy  in 
1346,  of  Calais  in  1347,  of  Poitiers  in  1356,  signalised 
his  reign,  and  in  many  of  them,  as  at  Cressy  and 
Calais,  Irish  soldiers  maintained  their  traditional 
reputation.  At  home,  too,  there  was  quite  enough, 
social  and  political,  to  engage  the  most  vigorous 


THE    WARS   OF  BRUCE  AND   OI<*   THE    ROSES.     331 

sovereign.  Scotland  and  Scottish  affairs  were  an  ever- 
pressing  danger,  separated,  not  by  the  sea,  as  Ireland 
was,  but  by  a  few  mountains  and  heather-clad  morasses. 
Ecclesiastical  troubles,  too,  breeding  social  discontent 
were  rife.  Edward  III.  saw  the  rise  and  progress  of 
movements  religious  and  social,  which  affected  Ireland 
as  well  as  England.  His  reign  beheld  the  great  move- 
ment headed  by  Wickliffe,  and  the  reaction  against 
the  mendicant  friars,  which  was  associated  with  it. 
A  few  words  on  this  point  will  assist  our  story. 

The  introduction  of  the  Dominican  and  Franciscan 
Orders  into  England  and  Ireland  alike,  had  been  in 
the  thirteenth  century  the  salvation  of  religion.  The 
Franciscans  especially  came,  like  the  Methodists  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  preaching  to  the  poor  and  neglected 
classes.  Here  I  can  point  you  to  a  trustworthy  and 
most  impartial  authority.  I  have  made  it  my  object 
throughout  these  lectures  to  call  your  attention  to 
the  great  Rolls  Series  of  historical  works,  where  the 
prefaces  contributed  by  eminent  men  have  painted 
from  original  authorities  the  history  of  England  during 
the  times  with  which  we  are  dealing.  The  late 
lamented  and  learned  Professor  Brewer  edited,  in  that 
series,  the  Monumenta  Franciscana,  prefixing  a  preface 
where  he  portrays  the  strength  and  the  weakness  of 
the  Franciscan  movement  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
He  heartily  acknowledges  the  blessings  it  brought,  and 
foremost  among  them  he  sets  this  fact:  that  they  settled 
in  the  suburbs  among  the  dregs  of  the  population,  and 
taught  them  practical  Christianity.  He  notices  that  in 
England  their  rude,  simple  chapels  were  always  placed 
in  the  poorest  quarters.  "  In  London,  York,  Warwick, 
Oxford,  Bristol,  Lynn,  and  elsewhere,  their  convents 
stood  in  the  suburbs  and  abutted  on  the  city  walls. 


332  IRELAND. 

They  made  choice  of  the  low,  swampy,  and  undrained 
spots  in  the  large  towns,  among  the  poorest  and  most 
neglected  quarters.  Unlike  the  magnificent  monasteries 
and  abbeys,  which  create  admiration  to  this  day,  their 
buildings  to  the  very  last  retained  their  primitive 
squat,  low,  and  meagre  proportions.  Their  first  house, 
at  their  settlement  in  London,  stood  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Cornhill,  where  they  built  cells,  stuffing  the 
party  walls  with  dried  grass.  Near  the  Shambles  in 
Newgate,  and  close  upon  the  city  gate  of  that  name, 
on  a  spot  appropriately  called  Stinking  Lane,  rose  the 
chief  house  of  the  Order  in  England."  Here,  again, 
they  resembled  the  early  Methodists.  Seek  out  either 
in  England  or  Ireland  the  remaining  specimens  of  the 
Methodist  chapels  of  John  Wesley's  time.  You  will  find 
them,  not  grand  assertive  Gothic  buildings  in  the  most 
fashionable  quarters,  but  plain  unpretentious  structures 
in  lanes  and  quiet  streets  where  the  humbler  classes 
lived  and  worked.  Thus  it  was  with  the  Franciscans 
in  England,  and  so,  too,  it  was  with  the  Franciscans  in 
Ireland.  Let  me  cite  a  few  instances.  Take  our  own 
city.  The  first  Franciscan  Friary  was  built  in  Francis 
Street  about  1235,  and  Francis  Street  was  in  the 
Celtic  suburbs  outside  the  Newgate  of  Dublin,  as 
the  Franciscan  house  was  outside  the  Newgate  of 
London.  In  Athlone,  the  Franciscan  house  was  built, 
at  the  same  period,  outside  the  north  gate,  on  the  low, 
swampy  ground  beside  the  Shannon,  where  the  plain 
undecorated  ruins  still  testify  to  the  simple  character 
of  the  earliest  Franciscan  teaching.  In  Kilkenny,  the 
site  of  the  Franciscan  Abbey  was  just  upon  the  city 
bounds,  on  the  marshy  banks  of  the  river  Nore.1  So  it 

1  See  Clyn's   Annals,   Irish    Archaeological    Society,    A.D. 
1849,  p.  69. 


THE    \VAKS   OF  BRUCE  AND  OF  THE  ROSES.     333 


was  in  Drogheda,  Galway,  and  everywhere  else  through- 
out Ireland  :  they  came  in  the  power  of  self-sacrificing 
love  as  missionaries  to  the  masses,  they  settled  among 
them  and  triumphed  there,  as  Churches  ever  triumph 
when  they  trust  not  in  the  arm  of  flesh,  but  in  the  power 
of  holy  enthusiasm  and  of  Divine  love.  Success,  how- 
ever, has  always  been  fatal  to  the  religious  Orders. 
The  Benedictines  were  superseded  by  the  Cistercians, 
and  Cistercians  by  reformed  Augustinian  monks,  and 
they  in  turn,  as  they  grew  rich  and  slothful,  by  the 
Friars  ;  and  now  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  Irish 
and  English  Franciscans  had  begun  to  lose  their  first 
fervour.1  One  hundred  years  have  ever  been  quite 
sufficient  to  change  the  spirit  and  radically  alter  the 
aspirations  of  such  societies,  ancient  and  modern  alike. 
The  complaint  of  the  Irish  to  Pope  John  XXII. 
shows  that  the  Minorites,  as  the  Franciscans  were 
usually  called,  'had  sadly  fallen  from  the  standard 
set  before  them  by  the  gentle  Francis  of  Assisi. 
Among  the  vexations  and  outrages  there  enumerated, 
they  complain  that  the  Anglo-Normans  valued  the 
life  of  an  Irishman  at  nothing,  placing  it  on  the  same 
level  as  that  of  a  beast.  This  spirit  of  national  hatred 
had  even  infected  the  religious  Orders.  The  Cistercians 
in  Armagh  and  Down  publicly  appeared  in  arms,  and 
slew  their  Irish  neighbours,  yet  celebrated  Mass  as  usual. 
While,  worst  of  all,  they  tell  that  Simon,  a  Franciscan, 
brother  to  the  Bishop  of  Connor,  whose  mission  and 
vows  should  specially  have  led  him  to  preach  peace  to 
the  outcast,  publicly  taught,  in  the  very  court  and  army 
of  Edward  Bruce,  whom  the  Celts  regarded  as  their 


1  An  Anglo-Irish  satirical  poem  ascribed  to  Friar  Michael 
of  Kildare,  about  A.D.  1308,  witnesses  to  this  decline.  See 
Gilbert's  Account  of  Fac-si miles  of  National  MSS.,  p.  98. 


334  IRELAND. 


champion,  "  that  it  is  no  sin  to  kill  an  Irishman,  and 
that  if  he  himself  were  to  be  the  doer  of  the  act, 
he  would  not  for  this  be  the  one  whit  less  ready  to 
perform  the  celebration  of  the  Mass." 

The  Franciscans  and  the  other  Mendicants  were 
rapidly  declining  in  the  days  of  Edward  III.  Wickliffe 
in  England  denounced  them,  and  Richard  Fitz-Ralph 
of  Dundalk,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  proved  himself  an 
equally  vigilant  enemy  of  the  Mendicants  here  in  Ireland. 
The  life  of  St.  Richard  of  Dundalk,  as  he  is  sometimes 
called,  favourably  illustrates  the  history  of  the  great 
primatial  see  of  Armagh  during  our  period.  The  succes- 
sion of  Armagh  prelates  was  just  like  that  of  their 
Dublin  brethren.  From  the  year  1200,  they  were  almost 
always  Anglo-Normans.  Now  and  then  a  Celtic  divine 
might  chance  to  obtain  the  primacy,  but  in  the  usual 
course  of  things  the  English  sovereigns  took  good  care 
to  place  prelates  of  English  blood  and  training  in  that 
position.  Luke  Netterville,  Albert  of  Cologne,  John 
Taaf,  Walter  de  Jorse,  Roland  Jorse,  Stephen  Segrave; 
all  these  at  least,  among  the  predecessors  of  Richard 
Fitz-Ralph,  were  certainly  Anglo-Normans.  And 
Richard  Fitz-Ralph,  who  presided  over  the  see  of 
Armagh  from  1347  to  1360,  was  just  the  same.  He 
was  bom  at  Dundalk,  trained  at  Oxford,  where  he 
became  Chancellor  of  the  University  in  1333,  whence 
he  was  made  Archbishop  of  Armagh  by  the  Pope, 
Clement  VI.,  being  consecrated  at  Exeter  by  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter  and  three  other  bishops  on  July  8th,  1347.' 
As  soon  as  he  obtained  the  chief  position  in  the  Church 
of  his  birth,  he  flung  himself  into  the  propagation  of 


'  Exeter  also  claims  to  have  been  his  birthplace.  See 
Prince's  ll'ortliics  of  Devon,  pp.  29^-8,  a  reference  which 
1  owe  to  his  Grace  the  Lord  Primate. 


THE    WARS  OF  BRUCE  AND   OF  THE  ROSES.     335 

the  Oxford  movement  of  his  day.  Wickliffe  was  then 
the  hero  of  Oxford.  He  bitterly  opposed  the  friars, 
he  was  the  translator  of  the  Bible  into  English,  the 
patron  and  friend  of  the  poor  priests.  And  Primate 
Richard  followed  in  his  footsteps.  He  denounced  the 
Irish  friars,  he  maintained  the  sanctity  and  use  off; 
property.  He  is  said  to  have  translated  the  Bible  into/ 
Irish ;  he  was  summoned,  like  Wickliffe,  to  answer  for 
his  views  before  papal  tribunals,  and  though  denounced 
by  some  as  a  heretic,  the  populace  viewed  him  as  a 
saint,  and  his  bones  when  he  died  were  carried  back 
from  Avignon  and  buried  in  the  Church  of  St.  Nicholas 
at  Dundalk,  where  common  report  told  that  miracles 
were  wrought  by  their  power,  and  where,  in  fact, 
Primate  Bramhall,  in  the  clays  of  Charles  I.,  proposed 
to  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory.1 

The  period,  indeed,  during  which  St.  Richard  ruled 
at  Armagh  were  terrible  years,  not  only  for  Ireland, 
but  for  England,  and  for  the  whole  of  Europe,  Asia, 
and  Africa.  The  Black  Death  swept  the  towns  and 
villages  of  England  and  Ireland  alike,  clear  of  all  in- 
habitants. Its  ravages  in  England,  changing  as  they 
did  the  whole  face  of  English  rural  society,  have  been 
of  later  years  the  subject  of  much  investigation.  Its 
effects  in  Ireland  were  just  as  bad,  but  Ireland  is  more 

1  The  Friars  of  Fitz- Ralph's  day  were  not  unlike  some 
extreme  teetotallers  of  the  present  time.  They  were  not 
content  to  decline  a  lawful  indulgence  for  Christ's  sake,  in 
refusing  the  use  of  property.  They  thought  that  all  men 
should  be  even  as  they,  if  salvation  was  to  be  secured.  Their 
favourite  thesis  was  :  Jesus  Christ  was  a  mendicant,  therefore 
all  Christians  should  be  mendicant  monks.  In  opposition  to 
this  view  Fit/- Ralph  maintained  in  his  writings  the  Christian 
use  of  private  property.  See,  for  more  about  St.  Richard  of 
Dundalk,  Ware's  Bishops,  ed.  Harris,  p.  Si  ;  Prince's 
IVbrf hies  of  Devon ,  p.  294. 


336  IRELAND. 

used  to  revolutionary  changes,  and  its  terrible  results 
have,  therefore,  received  the  less  notice  amongst  our- 
selves. Friar  Clyn,  the  Kilkenny  Franciscan,  paints 
the  progress  of  the  plague  of  1 348  in  a  few  vigorous 
strokes  which  we  may  here  reproduce  :  "  That  pesti- 
lence deprived  of  human  inhabitant  villages  and  cities, 
castles  and  towns,  so  that  there  was  scarcely  found  a 
man  to  dwell  therein  ;  the  pestilence  was  so  contagious 
that  whosoever  touched  the  sick  or  the  dead  was 
immediately  infected  and  died  ;  and  the  penitent  and 
the  confessor  were  carried  together  to  the  grave; 
through  fear  and  dread  men  scarcely  dared  to  perform 
the  offices  of  piety  and  pity  in  visiting  the  sick  and 
burying  the  dead  ;  many  died  of  boils  and  abscesses 
and  pustules  on  their  shins  or  under  their  armpits ; 
others  died  frantic  with  the  pain  in  their  heads,  and 
others  spitting  blood.  The  pestilence  was  rife  in 
Kilkenny  in  Lent  ;  from  Christmas  Day  to  the  sixth 
day  of  March,  eight  friars-preachers  died  of  it. 
Scarcely  one  alone  ever  died  in  a  house.  Commonly 
husband,  wife,  children,  servants,  went  the  one  way, 
the  way  of  death." 

And  now  the  cup  of  misery  and  woe  was  brim- 
ming over.  War,  pestilence,  rebellion,  misrule,  neglect, 
had  done  their  utmost,  and  English  and  Celt  alike 
were  overwhelmed  in  one  common  ruin.  Why  need 
I  prolong  the  mournful  tale,  which  becomes  the 
dreariest  of  the  dreary  in  its  recital  ?  Every  attempt 
to  remedy  the  state  of  Ireland  only  seems  to  have  made 
the  matter  worse.  A  royal  marriage  with  an  Anglo- 
Irish  heiress,  instead  of  bringing  a  blessing  marked 
the  lowest  point  of  English  degradation.  William  de 
Burgh,  Earl  of  Ulster  and  Lord  of  Connaught,  was 
slain  in  Ulster  in  1333,  leaving  an  only  daughter  named 


THE   WARS  OF  BRUCE  AND   OF  THE  ROSES.     337 

Elizabeth,  to  inherit  his  vast  estates.  Lionel,  Duke  of 
Clarence,  second  son  of  Edward  III.,  married  this 
young  lady  in  1352,  and  in  virtue  of  the  union  claimed 
the  honours  and  estates  of  her  father.1  He  came  as 
lord-lieutenant  to  Ireland,  chiefly  with  a  view  to  assert 
his  titles  and  recover  his  estate  in  Connaught,  which  the 
other  members  of  the  house  of  De  Burgh  had  seized, 
and  at  last  successfully  retained.  The  one  enduring 
monument  of  his  viceroyalty  is  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny, 
which  Mr.  Hardiman  edited,  with  conspicuous  learning, 
some  fifty  years  ago,  for  the  Irish  Archaeological 
Society.  Time  would  fail  me  to  analyse  the  pro- 
visions of  that  Statute  and  point  out  its  mischievous 
tendencies ;  and  there  is  the  less  need  to  do  so  as 
Mr.  Hardiman  has  achieved  this  task  with  admirable 
clearness  in  his  Introduction.  To  that  work  I  must 
refer  those  interested  in  the  investigation  of  this  sad 
period.  Mr.  Hardiman  fixes,  however,  upon  one  point 
as  the  special  vice  of  this  legislative  achievement. 
The  Statute  of  Kilkenny  strove  in  every  possible  way 
to  accentuate  the  distinction  between  the  English  and 


1  The  earldom  of  Ulster  and  lordship  of  Connaught  were 
enjoyed  by  several  successive  members  of  the  royal  family, 
till  at  last  in  the  person  of  Edward  IV.  they  became  the 
special  inheritance  and  revenue  of  the  English  Crown.  The 
Connaught  estates  were,  however,  never  enjoyed  by  the  Duke 
of  Clarence  or  his  successors.  They  were  seized  in  1333  by 
the  most  powerful  of  the  junior  branches  of  the  family,  Sir 
William  de  Burgh,  ancestor  of  the  Karls  of  Clanrirarde,  and 
Sir  Edward  Albanagh,  progenitor  of  the  Earls  of  Mayo. 
They  renounced  the  English  style  and  dress,  adopting  Irish 
names  :  Sir  William  that  of  MacWilliam  Oughter,  or  the 
Upper,  and  Sir  Edmund  that  of  MacWilliam  Eighter,  or  the 
Lower.  Henceforth  the  De  Burghs  became  the  leaders  of 
rebellion  throughout  Connaught  till  Cromwell's  time.  See 
O'Donovan's  note  on  A.D.  1333,  in  Annals  of  the 
Masters,  Hardiman's  History  of  Gal  way,  pp.  56,  57. 

22 


338  IRELAND. 

the   Irish.     It    proclaimed    the    defeat    of  the   English 
power  in   Ireland   in  doing  so.     It  acknowledged  that, 
beyond  the  south-eastern  counties  of  Ireland,  English 
power  did  not   prevail.        It   strove,   therefore,   in   the 
spirit   of  the  old  Mosaic  legislation  to  raise  a  barrier 
between  the  inhabitants  of  the  Pale,  who  were  English, 
and  those  without  the  Pale,  who  were  Irish.     Just  as 
Moses  and  Joshua  endeavoured  to  cause   the  original 
inhabitants  of  Palestine  to  stink  in  the  nostrils   of  the 
Jews,    forbidding  alliance  or  kinship   with   them,   and 
ordering  their  utter  extirpation,  so    did   Duke    Lionel 
and  his  Kilkenny  Parliament.     They  prohibited  alliance 
by  marriage  with  the  Celts,  nurture  of  English  infants 
by   them,  or  the  use  of  Irish  names  or  dress  by  the 
English.     They  made  it  penal  for  the  English  to  permit 
the  Irish  to  graze   on   their  land,    to  present  them   to 
ecclesiastical    benefices,    to    receive  them  into    monas- 
teries, to  entertain  their  minstrels,  rhymers,  and  news- 
tellers.        Finally,  they    used     the    strongest    language 
against  the  Brehon  law,1  proclaiming  the  English  who 
submitted  to    it    traitors   against   the    Crown,   without, 
however,  substituting    any  effective  code   in  its  place. 
This  Statute  of  Kilkenny  has  been   well    described  as 
"  no  more   than   a  peevish  and   revengeful  expression 
of  the  resentment  Duke  Lionel  felt  from  the  opposition 
he  had  met  with,  and  the  loss  of  those  lands  he  had 
come    over    to    claim  ; "  and    as    such    it    met    with    a 
deserved  failure.2     One  great  aim  of  this  Statute  was 
this :  it  desired    to    prevent  Englishmen    turning    into 
Irishmen,  and  becoming,  according  to  the  old  complaint, 


1  An  imprinted  Act  of  a  Drogheda  Parliament  of  1476  calls 
the  Brehon  code  "  the  wicked  and  damnable  law  called 
Brehon  law.1'  Cf.  Hardiman's  Statute  of  Kilkenny,  p.  18. 

-  Cf.  Hardiman's  Introd.,  p.  xi. 


THE    WARS  OF  BRUCE  AND   OF  THE  ROSES.     339 


more  Irish  than  the  Irish  themselves.  But  penal 
statutes  not  grounded  on  public  opinion,  and  running 
counter  to  great  natural  forces,  are  sure  to  fail.  Nothing 
could  possibly  hinder  scattered  Englishmen  surrounded 
by  overwhelming  multitudes  of  Celts  from  conforming 
to  their  customs.  The  same  process  has  ever  gone  on, 
and  is  still  going  on.  You  will  find  in  your  parishes 
no  part  of  your  parochial  work  more  difficult  than  the 
effort  to  keep  your  scattered  Protestant  parishioners 
from  assimilating  themselves  to  the  overwhelming 
Roman  Catholic  majority  around.  And  so  it  was  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  The  English 
Government  passed  highly  penal  statutes,  but  exercised 
no  authority,  enforced  no  law,  established  no  effective 
police,  and  then  were  laughed  at  by  English  and  by 
Irish  alike.  This  Statute  of  Kilkenny  was  re-enacted 
by  every  parliament  which  sat  in  Ireland  till  the 
celebrated  one  which  met  at  Drogheda  under  Sir 
Edward  Poynings  in  1495,  and  proved  all  through 
these  dreary  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  a  mere 
voice  and  nothing  more. 

Ireland's  condition  waxed  worse  and  worse  during 
the  fifteenth  century,  as  we  might  well  expect.  The 
Wars  of  the  Roses  ruined  the  English  aristocracy  of 
that  age,  and  proved  fatal  to  many  of  the  Irish  too. 
The  usual  fate  of  division  and  strife  followed  the 
Anglo-Irish  during  that  prolonged  struggle.  The  Earls 
of  Ormond  and  the  Butlers  took  the  Lancastrian  side. 
The  Earls  of  Kildare  and  the  Eitz-Geralds  supported  the 
Yorkists,  till  on  the  fatal  field  of  Wakefield  Green, 
December  3 1st,  1460,  the  Anglo-Irish  soldiers  perished 
in  thousands  fighting  round  the  standard  of  Richard, 
Duke  of  York.  War  and  strife  in  England  intensified, 
of  course,  the  internal  confusions  of  Ireland.  The 


340  IRELAND. 

houses  of  Butler  and  Fitz-Gerald  had  enough  of  bitter 
memories  without  this  additional  excuse  for  bloodshed 
which  the  dynastic  struggle  in  England  afforded  ;  still, 
they  only  seemed  to  enjoy  the  fresh  fuel  thus  added 
to  the  flame.  But  no  matter  what  side  won,  the  people 
of  Ireland  were  the  chief  sufferers.  When  the  Yorkists 
were  in  power,  the  Fitz-Geralds  tyrannised.  When  the 
Lancastrians  triumphed,  the  Butlers  took  a  wild  revenge, 
till  at  last  the  strong  hand  of  Henry  VII.  intervened. 
Lambert  Simnel,  in  1487,  and  Perkin  Warbeck,  in 
1492,  each  of  them  used  Ireland  as  the  weak  point 
in  England's  armour,  and  with  Geraldine  help  tried 
to  restore  the  fortunes  of  the  House  of  York.  They 
landed  in  Ireland,  and  thence  strove  to  overthrow 
the  Lancastrian  cause  triumphant  in  the  person  of 
Henry  VII.  Their  attempts  failed,  and  that  failure  led 
the  first  Tudor  monarch  to  turn  his  attention  to  this 
country,  and  send  over  a  strong  and  determined  viceroy. 
Henry  was  weary  of  Ireland  and  its  perpetual  troubles. 
He  saw  that  it  was  a  source  of  loss  and  weakness  to 
England  in  its  existing  condition.  Its  Parliament 
represented  a  mere  fraction  of  the  whole  island,  and 
was  simply  the  tool  of  one  or  other  of  two  contend- 
ing factions.  He  despatched,  therefore,  Sir  Edward 
Poynings  into  Ireland,  to  investigate  the  condition 
of  Irish  affairs,  and  take  his  measures  accordingly. 
Poynings  chastised  the  Celtic  rebels,  restrained  the 
quarrels  of  the  Butlers  and  Geraldines,1  and  passed  an 
Act  at  Drogheda  in  the  Parliament  of  1495,  since 
known  to  fame  as  Poynings'  Act.  This  statute,  round 
which  the  controversies  of  the  last  century  waxed  fierce 


1  See  Poynings'  Act,  abolishing'  the  war-cries  Cromabo  and 
Butlerabo,  in  the  Irish  Statutes,  vol.  L,  p.  55. 


THE    WARS  OF  BRUCE  AND    OF  THE  ROSES.    341 


and  furious,  simply  enacted  that  all  acts,  causes,  and 
considerations  submitted  to  the  Irish  Parliament  should 
first  be  approved  by  the  English  Crown.  Poynings' 
Act  attained  one  useful  purpose  at  any  rate,  for  it 
effectually  curbed  the  Anglo-Norman  factions  which 
then  were  ruling  and  ruining  Ireland.1 

I  must  stop,  however ;  I  have  reached  my  limits, 
and  were  I  to  advance  further,  questions  might  be 
raised  of  burning  interest,  upon  which  I  have  no 
desire  to  touch.  This  much,  however,  I  may  say : 
Poynings'  Act  may  have  been,  and  doubtless  was,  sadly 
and  selfishly  misused  in  Williamite  and  Hanoverian 
times.  But  looking  at  it  from  the  historian's  stand- 
point, I  am  obliged  to  confess  that  Poynings'  legislation 
was  the  only  hope  for  Ireland  if  she  was  ever  to 
be  rescued  from  the  anarchy  in  which  the  country 
then  lay.  Nothing  good  could  be  extracted  from  a 
mere  Parliament  of  the  Pale,  the  creature  of  Ormond 
one  year,  of  Kildare  the  next.  Poynings'  Act  was  the 
turning-point  of  Irish  history.  It  marked,  indeed,  the 


1  Poynings'  Act  will  be  found  in  the  printed  Irish  Statutes, 
vol.  i.,  p.  44.  Kdward  III.  sought  to  attain  the  same  end  by 
summoning  a  Union  Parliament  at  Westminster.  He  endea- 
voured to  anticipate  Pitt's  action  by  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  years.  In  1376  he  issued  writs  convoking  the  bishops,  peers, 
and  representatives  of  Ireland  to  meet  in  Parliament  at  London. 
This  action  provoked  great  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
Anglo-Normans  both  in  Church  and  State.  They  attended 
the  Parliament,  but  sent  very  vigorous  protests  against  the 
convocation  of  such  an  assembly.  The  spirited  and  argu- 
mentative replies  of  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  of  the 
County  of  Dublin  are  still  on  record.  They  can  be  read  in  the 
original  Latin,  together  with  the  writs  used  on  the  occasion, 
in  Leland's  History  of  Ireland ,  vol.  i.,  pp.  363-87,  Appendix  ii. ; 
cf.  Gale's  Corporate.  System  of  Ire/ant/,  pp.  cclix,  cclxi, 
for  another  declaration  of  Anglo-Irish  independence  in  1460. 
Cromwell  held  the  next  Union  Parliament  at  Westminster, 
Cf.  Gale,  I.e.,  p.  cclxiii. 


342  IRELAND. 

lowest  point  to  which  English  rule  descended  since 
Plenry  II.  landed,  more  than  three  hundred  years  before. 
Prior  to  it,  however,  the  prospect  ever  grows  darker 
and  darker.  Subsequent  to  it,  the  prospect  ever  grows 
brighter  and  brighter.  The  progress  made  by  Ireland 
may  at  times  seem  to  have  been  very  slow,  and  at  times 
appear  to  have  been  backwards  rather  than  forwards. 
But  the  historian  judges  by  centuries,  not  by  years. 
The  historic  muse  treads  with  a  very  majestic  step, 
and  marches  with  a  giant's  stride.  Judging  Ireland 
from  a  historic  standpoint,  surely  even  the  most 
prejudiced  must  acknowledge  that  the  Ireland  of  to-day, 
with  its  prosperity,  its  wealth,  its  trade,  and  its  en- 
lightenment, has  steadily  advanced  century  by  century. 
The  Ireland  of  1600  was  superior  to  that  of  1500. 
The  Ireland  of  i/oo  surpassed  that  of  1600.  The 
Ireland  of  1800  was  richer  and  more  prosperous  than 
that  of  1700  ;  and  sure  I  am  that  the  Ireland  of  to-day 
is  a  far  pleasanter  one  to  live  in  than  the  Ireland 
of  our  grandfathers'  time.  The  whitewashing,  refur- 
bishing, and  clearing  of  unpopular  and  misunderstood 
reputations  is  now  a  favourite  occupation  in  some 
literary  circles.  I  desire  likewise  to  do  somewhat  in 
that  same  charitable  direction,  and  I  hope  that  these 
few  words  may  in  some  slight  degree  help  towards 
clearing  the  character  and  vindicating  the  measures 
of  Sir  Edward  Poynings,  the  misunderstood  and  mis- 
represented Lord  Deputy  of  King  Henry  the  Seventh. 


LECTURE  XV. 

THE    CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN 
TIMES. 

I    MAY  as  well  begin  this  lecture  by  telling  you  at 
once  that  I  select  this  title,   "  The  Celtic  Church 
in  Anglo-Norman  Times,"  simply  from  reasons  of  con- 
venience.    I  do  not  intend  to  convey  that  there  were 
two  Churches  in  Ireland  then,  as  there  are  two  Churches 
in  Ireland  now,  with  competing  bishops  in  every  see 
and  competing  incumbents  in  every  parish.     I  intend 
something  quite  different,   which,   as  I    conceive,  every 
honest  inquirer  will  at  once  concede.     Henry  II.  came 
to  Ireland,  and  at  the  Council  of   Cashel  ordered  that 
there  should   be  perfect  conformity  with   the   practice, 
rites,  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England  on  the  part 
of  the  Church  of  Ireland.     Henceforth  there  were  two 
parties  in  the  Irish  Church.    There  was  the  Celtic  party 
and  there  was  the  Anglo-Norman  party.    They  taught  in 
the  main  the  same  doctrines,  practised  in  the  main  the 
same  rites,  acknowledged  the  nominal  supremacy  of  the 
same  pope,  and  yet  were  as  distinct  from  one  another, 
and  hated  one  another  with  as  perfect  a  hatred,  as  if 
they    rejoiced    in    the    designation    of    Protestant    and 
Papist,   or  the   still    more  modern  one    of  Orangemen 
and    Nationalists.     The   basis   of  this   distinction    was 
already  laid   in   the  Anglo-Danish  see  of  Dublin.      In 
the  long  succession   of  the    Dublin   prelates,  from  the 


344  IRELAND. 

eleventh  century  downwards,  Laurence  O'Toole  was 
the  one  genuine  Celt,  by  birth,  by  training,  and  by 
consecration.  With  that  one  exception  the  bishops, 
clergy,  and  laity  of  Dublin  were  hostile  to  the  Celtic 
Church  and  population.  After  the  Synod  of  Cashel 
Anglo-Norman  modes  of  worship,  and  Anglo-Norman 
bishops,  clergy,  and  monks,  and  Anglo-Norman  dedi- 
cations of  churches  spread  through  Ireland  wherever 
Anglo-Norman  power  and  authority  got  a  firm  and 
lasting  grip  ;  while  the  Church  in  the  native  districts 
retained  more  of  the  ancient  Celtic  hue.  I  have  arrived 
at  this  conclusion  by  a  deduction  from  a  large  number 
of  facts,  a  few  of  which  I  shall  now  proceed  to  lay 
before  you.  A  full  statement  of  them  will  enable  you 
to  determine  for  yourselves  how  far  I  am  justified  in 
speaking  of  the  Celtic  Church  as  still  existing  in  Anglo- 
Norman  times. 

I  make  a  broad  division  of  the  Irish  Church  for  the 
purposes  of  this  investigation.  The  Church  of  the 
eastern  counties,  from  Coleraine  in  the  north  to  Water- 
ford  in  the  south,  was  soon  completely  Anglicized,  and 
with  a  few  insignificant  exceptions  in  the  mountain 
districts,  differed  in  no  respect,  in  architecture,  rites, 
and  customs,  from  the  Church  in  England.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  leading  towns  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.  Galway  and  Limerick,  for  instance,  inside 
the  walls,  were  as  distinctly  English  in  ecclesiastical 
matters  as  Carrickfergus,  Dundalk,  or  Drogheda. 
Galway  became  a  thoroughly  Anglo-Norman  town. 
Galway  still  rejoices  in  the  title  of  the  City  of  the 
Tribes,  and  people  fondly  imagine  that  there  is  some- 
thing peculiarly  Irish  and  peculiarly  Celtic  in  this  title. 
Why  !  it  is  quite  the  opposite.  The  tribes  of  Galway 
were  simply  a  number  of  Anglo-Norman  families  who 


1   CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  345 

settled  in  that  town  and  made  it  an  exclusively  English 
town  in  the  midst  of  a  Celtic  district.1  The  dedica- 
tions of  the  churches  is  one  of  the  best  evidences  of  the 
distribution  of  the  population.  The  one  great  collegiate 
church  of  Galway,  built  in  the  most  pronounced 
English  fashion,  is  dedicated  to  St.  Nicholas,  and 
wherever  the  Anglo-Normans  went  they  always  dedi- 
cated the  churches  which  they  built  in  seaport  towns  to 
St.  Nicholas  of  Myra,  the  patron  saint  of  sailors.  As  it 
is  in  Galway,  so  it  is  in  Cork,  in  Dublin,  in  Dundalk, 
in  Carrickfergus  :  each  of  them  has  a  church,  and  Dublin 
two  churches,  dedicated  to  this  saint,  the  favourite 
of  navigators.2  Bearing  in  mind  this  limitation,  how- 
ever, we  may  broadly  distinguish  the  Church  of  Ireland 
into  the  two  great  sections  of  the  Church  of  Eastern 
Ireland,  which  was  Anglo-Norman,  and  the  Church  of 
Western  Ireland,  which  remained  Celtic.  Let  us  see, 
then,  what  we  can  learn  concerning  the  life  of  each 
section. 

What,  then,  are  the  facts  which  lead  me  to  conclude 
that  the  Church  of  the  western  dioceses  from  Derry 
along  by  Kilmore,  Ardagh,  Elphin,  Tuam,  and  down 
to  Ardfert  in  Kerry  and  Ross  in  West  Cork,  remained 
true  to  its  ancient  character  ?  An  exposition  of  them 


1  See  Hardiman's  Hist,  of  Gctlway,  pp.  6,  7.  The  names 
of  the  tribes  speak  for  themselves.  They  were  Athy,  Blake, 
Bodkin,  Browne,  D'Arcy,  Ffont,  Ffrench,  Joyce,  Kirwan, 
Lynch,  Martin,  Morris,  and  Skerrett. 

-  A  slight  investigation  will  show  that  it  is  just  the  same  in 
the  seaport  towns  of  England.  Every  ancient  seaport  has 
a  church  dedicated  to  St.  Nicholas,  and  intended  specially 
for  the  seafaring  classes.  The  exceptions  in  Ireland  can  be 
easily  explained.  Waterford,  Wexford,  and  Limerick  were 
fully  equipped  with  churches  before  the  Anglo-Norman 
invasion.  Sligo  and  Derry  were  Celtic  towns  in  the  middle 
ages,  and  Belfast  did  not  exist. 


346  IRELAND. 


will  give  you  many  a  glimpse  of  the  social  and  religious 
state  of  those  early  times.  I  pray  you,  therefore,  to 
lend  me  your  keenest  attention,  and  to  bear  patiently  if 
I  seem  to  be  very  copious  in  detail.  Appealing  then 
to  history  as  written  by  Celtic  scribes,  I  find  in  the 
first  place  clear  evidence  in  the  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters,  written  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  that 
the  north  of  Ireland  retained  its  ancient  Columban 
spirit  for  a  century  and  more  after  the  conquest. 
In  my  lectures  published  in  Ireland  and  the  Celtic 
Church,  I  called  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
Columban  party  in  Ulster  were  the  fiercest  and  most 
persistent  opponents  of  the  Roman  view  about  Easter 
and  the  orthodox  form  of  the  tonsure.1  That  ancient 
spirit  did  not  easily  die  out  in  Ulster,  and  specially  in 
Derry,  which  as  fondly  cherished  the  memory  of  its 
founder,  Columcille,  in  the  thirteenth  century  as  it  did  in 
the  eighth,  and  reverenced  his  sanctuary,  lona,  as  it  did 
of  yore.  The  Derrymen,  bishop,  abbots,  monks,  and 
laity,  were  just  as  ready  to  show  their  love  for  lona, 
and  that  in  the  real  old  Irish  style,  as  Columba's  own 
monastery,  Burrow,  was  when  she  fought  many  a  battle 
in  the  olden  times  with  her  neighbour  Clonmacnois,  the 
favourite  foundation  of  Kieran  the  carpenter,  in  fancied 
defence  of  her  patron's  honour.  The  disciples  of 
Columba  were  ever  a  fighting  race.  Columba  was  an 
O'Donnell,  and  the  O'Donnells  have  ever  dearly  loved 
a  fray.  St.  Columba  himself  in  his  earlier  and  wilder 
days  followed  the  example  of  his  forefathers,  and  his 
monasteries  followed  the  example  of  their  founder  ;  and 
now,  in  the  year  1200  A.D.,  we  find  that  the  traditional 
spirit  has  not  died  out  in  Derry.  Derry  regarded 


1  See  p.  161  of  that  work. 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  347 


herself  as,  next  to  lona,  the  special  church  of  St. 
Columba.  The  abbots  of  Derry  were  eminently  the 
Coarbs  or  successors  of  Columcille  in  Ulster.  The 
Four  Masters  tell  us,  for  instance,  that  in  1150  Maelisa 
O'Branan,  successor  of  St.  Columba  and  "head  of  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  north  of  Ireland,"  died. 
Flaherty  O'Brollaghan  was  appointed  his  successor,  and 
then  the  very  next  year  we  read  that  he  made  his 
visitation  among  the  septs  that  owned  his  jurisdiction, 
and  received  his  dues  ;  for  the  reception  of  dues  seems 
to  have  been  the  great  object  of  episcopal  or  abbatial 
visitations  in  those  times.  The  dues  were,  however, 
thoroughly  in  keeping  with  the  Columban  spirit,  for 
the  Four  Masters  tell  us  that  the  abbot  received  "  a 
horse  from  every  chieftain,  a  sheep  from  every  hearth, 
and  his  horse,  battle  dues,  and  a  ring  of  gold,  in  which 
were  two  ounces,  from  the  lord  of  the  country." 
Flaherty  O'Brollaghan's  rule  at  Derry  lasted  from 
1150  to  11/5,  when  we  find  his  departure  in  peace 
chronicled  after  the  following  fashion  : — "  Flaherty 
O'Brollaghan,  successor  of  St.  Columbkille,  a  tower  of 
wisdom  and  hospitality  ;  a  man  to  whom,  on  account 
of  his  goodness  and  wisdom,  the  clergy  of  Ireland  had 
presented  a  bishop's  chair,1  and  to  whom  the  presidency 
of  Fly  (lona)  had  been  offered  ;  died  in  righteousness, 
after  exemplary  sickness  in  the  Duibhregles  of  Derry  ;  - 


1  Fie  seems  to  have  been  constituted  the  first  Bishop  of 
Derry  at  a  synod  held  in  1158.  He  resigned  the  see  after 
a  time,  and  contented  himself  with  the  government  of  his 
abbey.  Ware's  Bishops,  cd.  Harris,  p.  286.  He  was  son 
of  one  of  the  married  primates  of  Armagh  who  so  excited 
St.  Bernard's  wrath. 

-  Duibhregles  is  composed  of  two  words  :  (Jiibh,  black,  and 
regies,  the  name  for  an  abbey  church  in  Irish,  derived  from 
the  Latin  regula,  a  rule.  The  Duibhregles  of  Derry  was 
St.  Columba's  original  abbey.  It  was  probably  called  by  this 


348  IRELAND. 

and  Gillamacliag  O'Branan  was  appointed  in  his  place 
in  the  abbacy."  O'Branan  lived  till  1198,  and  then 
resigned  the  abbey,  when  we  are  told  "  Gilchrist 
O'Kearney  was  elected  Coarb  of  St.  Columbkille  by  the 
universal  suffrages  of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  north 
of  Ireland,"  and  so  the  succession  went  on  throughout 
the  thirteenth  century,  just  as  if  the  Anglo-Normans  had 
never  set  foot  in  Ireland  and  the  Synod  of  Kells  never 
had  been  heard  of.  In  1219  another  O'Branan  died, 
and  another  O'Brollaghan  was  elected  Coarb  of  St. 
Columba,  who  exacted  his  dues  and  kept  up  the  ancient 
traditions  and  the  ancient  warlike  spirit,  which  was 
ready  to  burst  forth  if  the  slightest  insult  were  offered 
to  Columba's  memory.  The  Four  Masters  themselves 
give  an  interesting  instance  of  this  under  the  year 
1203.  A  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man,  named  Kellagh, 
or  Nicholas,  dared  to  erect  a  monastery  in  the  very 
middle  of  lona  in  despite  of  the  monks  of  lona,  and  did 
considerable  damage  to  the  town.  He  was  claiming 
jurisdiction  in  fact  over  a  monastery  which  had  ever 
been  exempt.  The  monastic  community  of  lona 
appealed  to  Derry  and  Ulster  for  help,  which  was  at 
once  granted,  and,  to  quote  the  words  of  the  Annals, 
"  the  clergy  of  the  north  of  Ireland  assembled  together 
to  pass  over  into  lona,  namely,  Florence  O'Carolan, 
Bishop  of  Tyrone  (i.e.  Derry)  ;  Maeiisa  O'Ueery,  Bishop 
of  Tirconnell  (Raphoe)  and  Abbot  of  the  Church  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul  at  Armagh ;  Awley  O'Ferghail,  or 
O'Freel,  Abbot  of  the  Regies  of  Derry,  with  many 


name  to  distinguish  it  from  the  new  Templemore,  or  cathedral 
church  erected  in  1164  by  Flaherty  O'Brollaghan,  Bishop  and 
Abbot  of  Derry.  See  Colby's  Ordnance  Survey  of  London- 
derry, sec.  ii.  ;  Aima/s  of  Four  Clusters,  ed.  O' Donovan, 
A.l).  1173. 


THE   CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO- NO  RAF  AN  TIMES.  349 

of  the  family  of  Derry,  besides  numbers  of  the  clergy 
of  the  north  of  Ireland.  They  passed  over  into  lona ; 
and,  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the  Church,  they 
pulled  down  the  aforesaid  monastery  ;  and  the  aforesaid 
Awley  was  elected  Abbot  of  lona  by  the  suffrages  of  the 
Galls  and  the  Gaels." l 

But  the  days  of  Columban  supremacy  were  numbered 
at  lona.  With  the  aid  of  the  Columban  bishops  and 
clergy  of  Ulster,  Awley  O'Freel  was  established  as  the 
Columban  Abbot  of  lona,  but  he  was  the  last  of  the 
long  succession.  That  appointment  is,  however,  an 
ample  proof  of  the  survival  of  ancient  Celtic  ecclesi- 
astical customs  in  Ulster.  The  Irish  were  intensely 
clannish  and  tribal.  The  tribal  chieftains  were  always 
selected  from  the  same  family  ;  and  the  chiefs  of  their 
abbeys,  the  Abbots,  were  chosen,  whenever  at  all 
possible,  from  the  family  of  the  first  founder.  Awley 
O'Freel,  the  last  abbot  of  lona,  was  an  interesting 
example  of  this  fact,  for  he  was  a  lineal  descendant 
from  Eoghan,  St.  Columba's  only  brother."  Nothing 
could  save  lona  however,  not  even  the  blood  of  St. 
Columba's  own  family,  because  Norman  ideas  were 
advancing  in  Scotland  and  cutting  off  the  estates  which 
ancient  piety  had  bestowed  for  the  support  of  the 
island  monastery.  The  Bishop  of  the  Isles  soon 
superseded  the  Columban  abbot,  and  established  a 


1  See  Bishop  Reeves's  Coltiniba,  p.  411,  for  an  explanation 
of   this    incident.     Kellach   was  Celtic  for   Nicholas   in    1203 
made    Bishop   of   Sodor   and    Man,   who  wished  to  establish 
episcopal    jurisdiction     in    the     island    of    lona.       Cf.    JVcw 
Statistical  Account  of  Scot/and,  t.  vii.,  pt.  ii.,  p.  325,  for  an 
account  of  the  relation  of  lona  to  the  bishops  and  style  of 
Sodor  and  Man. 

2  See  Bishop  Reeves's  Co/iiniha,  pp.  3^2,  412  ;   and  his  tract 
on  abbatial  succession  in  Ireland  in  the  Proceeding's  of  the 
Roy.  Ir.  Acad.,  January  i2th,  1857. 


350  IRELAND. 

cathedral,  and  that  with  Irish  help,  for  one  of  the 
pillars  still  bears  an  inscription  stating  that  a  certain 
Donnel  O'Brolcan,  a  member  of  a  family  noted  in 
Ulster  as  stonemasons,  had  raised  the  edifice.1  But 
now,  mark  my  point :  it  was  the  Roman  ideas  working 
from  the  Scotch  side,  subtracting  the  estates  of  lona 
in  behalf  of  the  new-fashioned  canons  of  Holyrood, 
which  put  an  end  to  the  Columban  institution  at  lona. 
Ulster  continued  loyal  to  her  ancient  and  her  renowned 
saint.  Derry  took  the  place  of  lona  in  the  reverence 
of  Columba's  adherents,  and  if  you  will  consult  the 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  or  the  Annals  of  Ulster, 
you  will  find  that  every  person  who  injured  or  attacked 
Derry  till  the  year  1300  is  said  to  have  been  punished 
through  the  instrumentality  and  power  of  Columcille. 

The  Columban  Order  was  the  most  ancient  and  revered 
of  Irish  monastic  societies,  but  it  was  not  the  only  one 
which  survived  the  great  crisis  of  Anglo-Norman  domi- 
nation. All  through  the  western  half  of  Ireland  we  find 
monastic  societies  and  institutions  of  the  ancient  type 
flourishing  for  centuries  after  that  great  change.  The 
monasteries  of  Ireland,  when  viewed  even  in  the  most 
superficial  manner,  divide  themselves  into  two  classes, 
the  Anglo-Norman  and  the  Celtic.  Contrast  Glenda- 
lough  with  Tintern,  Dunbrody  and  Jerpoint  in  the  south, 
or  Mellifont  in  the  north.  Compare  Clonmacnois  with 
St.  John's,  Newtown,  near  Trim ;  Innis-Cleraun  in 
Lough  Ree  with  Boyle,  higher  up  the  Shannon  ;  or 
Innis-Murry  with  its  neighbours  Donegal  and  Sligo  ; 

1  Bishop  Reeves  in  his  learned  essay  on  the  Culdees,  Trans. 
Roy.  Ir.  Acad.,  t.  xxiv.,  p.  28,  says:  "  The  reign  of  David  I. 
(1124 — 1153)  is  celebrated  by  historians  as  the  period  when 
the  Scotch  dioceses  became  permanently  defined."  By  the 
year  1203  the  island  of  lona  had  come  within  the  influence 
of  the  new  movement. 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  351 


and  a  glance  will  show  the  vast  distinction  between  the 
monasteries  due  to  native  Celtic  influence  and  those 
due  to  Anglo-Norman  and  Roman  ideas.  The  shape, 
constitution,  architecture,  of  the  Celtic  monastery  are  as 
different  from  those  of  the  Anglo-Norman  as  light  is  from 
darkness.  The  Celtic  monastery  is  in  every  instance  a 
collection  of  small,  square,  stone-roofed  churches,  with- 
out any  architectural  adornments,  enclosed  within  a 
cashel  or  fortification,  wherein  were  the  stone  or  mud 
cells  of  the  monks,  and  usually  associated  with  a  round 
tower.  The  Anglo-Norman  monastery  is  a  stately 
building,  where  the  monks  live  the  life  of  a  community, 
sleeping  in  dormitories,  dining  in  a  common  hall,  and 
assembling  themselves  in  one  magnificent  church,  which 
witnesses  by  its  style  to  the  influence  of  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries.  The  conquest  of  Ireland  by 
Strongbow  did  not  terminate  the  existence  of  the  Irish 
type.  Clonmacnois,  Glendalough,  Innis-Cleraun,  main- 
tained their  existence  and  their  ancient  mode  of  life. 
Glendalough,  indeed,  was  robbed  of  its  estates  by  the 
see  of  Dublin,  and  lost  its  abbots.  But  the  priory  of 
St.  Saviour  still  flourished  as  a  dependent  of  the  Celtic 
foundation  of  All  Saints,  or  All  Hallows,  Monastery, 
which  once  occupied  the  site  of  this  college.1  A  number 
of  these  pure  Celtic  abbeys  in  the  west  never  accepted 
any  of  the  new-fashioned  rules  imported  from  England 
or  the  Continent.  They  were  not  submerged  by  the 
inundation  of  Cistercians,  Augustinians,  Dominicans, 
Franciscans,  which  overwhelmed  their  brethren  in  the 
east  of  the  island.  The  original  Celtic  Orders  or  com- 
munities— followers  of  St.  Kieran,  St.  Canice,  St.  Kevin, 


!  See    Dean  Butler's  Introduction  to  the  Register  of  All 
Hallows,  p.  ix,  in  the  Irish  Archaeological  Society's  series. 


352  IRELAND. 

and  St.  Columba — perpetuated  in  these  rude  and  distant 
monasteries  the  customs  of  their  forefathers. 

Let  me  give  you  a  few  instances.  Let  us  take  first 
a  well-known  subject  of  controversy.  No  ecclesiastical 
question  had  caused  fiercer  contentions  during  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries  than  the  custom  of  the 
Celtic  tonsure,  which  consisted  in  shaving  all  the  hair 
in  front  of  a  line  drawn  from  ear  to  ear,  as  distinguished 
from  the  Petrine  or  Roman  tonsure,  which  was  formed 
by  shaving  the  top  of  the  head  alone.  In  England, 
Ireland,  and  Scotland  alike,  the  Roman  party  had  used 
every  effort  to  extirpate  it.  They  had  tried  that  most 
effective  of  all  controversial  methods.  They  gave  the 
Celtic  tonsure  a  bad  name,  calling  it  the  tonsure  of 
Simon  Magus.  Yet  the  Celts  would  not  abandon  it.1 
The  lay  people,  even  in  Ireland,  adopted  it,  and  it 
became  a  national  symbol,  indicating  a  man  of  Irish 
birth,  race,  and  habit.  We  therefore  find  it  prohibited 
by  an  Act  of  the  Great  Council  of  Ireland  passed  in  the 
year  1295,  which  ordered  that  any  Englishman  con- 
forming to  this  custom,  having  his  head  half-shaven, 
nourishing,  and  elongating  his  locks  behind,  after  the 
Irish  fashion,  should  be  punished  by  fine  and  imprison- 
ment." The  Easter  question,  again,  seems  at  times  to 
have  shown  symptoms  that  it  was  not  yet  dead.  In  the 
year  1444  the  Annals  of  Dudley  Firbisse  tell  us  that 


'  This  special  mode  of  tonsure  seems  to  have  been  universal 
among  the  Celtic  race.  It  was  found  in  Ireland,  in  England, 
and  in  Scotland  (Bede,  Hist.,  iii.,  26  ;  iv.,  i  ;  v.,  21);  in  Brittany 
(Greg.  Tur. ,  Hist.  Franc.,  x.  9),  and  in  Spain  (Cone.  Tolet., 
iv.,  A.i>.  633,  can.  xli.)  See  the  article  "Tonsure"  in  the 
Diet,  Christ.  Antiqt] .,  t.  ii.;  Harris's  Ware,  t.  ii.,  pp.  238-40, 
and  the  references  there  given. 

-'  This  enactment  will  be  found  in  the  Irish  Archaeological 
Miscellany,  t.  i.,  p.  22. 


THE   CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  353 


at  that  late  period  "  a  Create  Controversie  arose  be- 
twixt the  Clergie  of  Ireland  in  this  yeare  touching 
Easterday."  ' 

The  ancient  arrangements  and  officials  of  the  Celts 
were  preserved.  The  most  interesting  illustration  of 
this  fact  is  to  be  found  in  the  celebrated  case  of  the 
Culdees,  who  were  regarded  as  a  mythical  kind  of 
beings  until  the  researches  of  Dr.  Reeves  brought 
together  all  the  facts  in  an  essay  read  by  him  before 
the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  and  embodied  in  the  twenty- 
fourth  volume  of  the  Transactions  of  that  learned 
society.  The  name  and  office  of  the  Culdees  had  pre- 
viously formed  a  sort  of  romance  round  which  all  kinds 
of  strange  ideas  gathered.  Our  Presbyterian  friends 
even  saw  in  them  their  own  direct,  though  unacknow- 
ledged, ancestors;  deposed,  indeed,  by  intruding  prelates, 
but  still  testifying  to  the  antiquity  of  their  modern 
organization1' — a  view  which  can  only  provoke  a  smile, 
for  surely  there  is  not  much  resemblance  between  the 
modern  Puritanism,  of  which  Irish  Presbyterianism  is 
one  of  the  best  representatives,  and  the  ancient  Celtic 
Church,  with  its  asceticism  and  its  sacramental  doctrine, 
except  in  the  shape  of  their  churches,  which  in  either 
case  seem  to  have  been  square  and  ugly  enough.  And 
now  a  few  words  about  the  genuine  history  of  the 
Culdees,  as  Dr.  Reeves  traces  them  in  Armagh,  De- 
venish,  Clonmacnois,  and  elsewhere  in  Ireland  ;  in  St. 
Andrews,  Dunkeld,  Dunblane,  and  lona,  in  Scotland;  at 
York,  in  England  ;  and  at  Bardsey  Island,  in  Wales.  He 
proves  that  they  were  simply  the  ancient  Celtic  monks 
in  a  state  of  corruption.  One  or  two  passages,  which 


1  Irish  Arch.  MiscelL,  t.  i.,  p.  20^. 

2  Reid's  History  of  the  Presbyterian   ClutrcJi  in  Ire/and, 
t.  i.,  p.  2. 


351  IRELAND. 

I  quote  from  his  essay,  will  be  a  sufficient  exposition 
of  this  theory.  For  its  full  proof  I  must  refer  you  to 
the  study  of  the  Bishop's  treatise.  On  page  30  of  his 
essay  the  Bishop  of  Down  writes  :  "  In  fact,  the  genera- 
lity of  monasteries,  both  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  were 
in  a  state  of  decrepitude  at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  those  which  survived  for  any  length  of 
time  owed  the  continuation  of  their  existence  either  to 
the  superaddition  of  a  bishop  and  chapter  or  to  their 
reconstruction  on  a  new  model.  Most  of  the  old  reli- 
gious communities  were  Keledei  (or  Culdees)  till  the 
changes  last-mentioned  took  place,  and  then  the  name 
became  limited  for  their  brief  future  to  those  institutions 
which  adhered  to  the  original  discipline,  as  contra- 
distinguished from  those  which  were  remodelled  or 
created  in  the  new."  Again,  on  the  next  page,  Dr. 
Reeves  proceeds:  "John  Pinkerton,  whose  sagacity 
and  candour  far  outweighed  any  natural  or  religious 
bias,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Culdees  were  only 
Irish  clergy.  In  the  gradual  corruption  of  the  monastic 
order,  they  married,  and  left  their  culdeeships  to  their 
children,  and  after  the  havoc  introduced  by  the  Danes, 
usurped  the  rank  of  secular  clergy.  In  short,  they  were 
merely  corrupted  monks,  such  as  abounded  in  all  the 
countries  of  Europe  till  the  eleventh  century,  when  the 
popes  were  forced  to  institute  canons  regular,  which 
the  princes  gradually  instituted  into  the  chief  monas- 
teries, instead  of  the  old  depraved  monks." 

The  theory  of  Pinkerton,  in  which  Dr.  Reeves  agrees, 
is  simply  this  :  The  monks  of  the  Celtic  Church  were 
originally  extreme  ascetics.  By  degrees  their  discipline 
became  relaxed.  They  married,  and  became  mere 
secular  clergy,  till  at  last  the  entire  religious  character 
of  a  monastery  vanished  except  in  name,  as  we  also 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  355 

find  to  have  been  the  case  in  England  with  the  ancient 
Celtic  foundations,  such  as  Glastonbury  in  Somerset, 
prior  to  the  reforms  of  St.  Dunstan  in  the  tenth 
century.1  Where  this  process  of  secularization  was 
only  partial,  a  shadow  of  the  old  society  continued  to 
exist  under  greater  or  less  variety  of  discipline  ;  the 
representatives  of  the  ancient  system  being  known  as 
Kele-dei  (servants  of  God),  a  title  which,  together  with 
portions  of  Church  property,  in  some  cases  descended 
from  father  to  son,  and  in  others  was  practically  en- 
tailed upon  members  of  certain  families.  The  system, 
in  fact,  of  the  ancient  Celtic  monasticism  was  played 
out.  It  had  done  its  work,  and  was  now  corrupt. 
The  representatives  of  the  old  Order  were  living  on 
the  reputation  of  bygone  ages,  and  were  still  styled 
Culdees,  or  God's  servants ;  but  they  had  only  the 
name,  and  nothing  of  the  reality.  The  title  had  become 
a  mere  empty  form,  witnessing,  as  titles  do  so  often,  to 
nothing  else  save  to  former  greatness  and  to  present 
degradation  and  vanity.  In  my  previous  course  of 
lectures,  published  under  the  title  of  Ireland  and  the 
Celtic  Church,  I  said  that  the  work  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  in  Ireland  during  the  twelfth  century  was  that 
of  a  real  reformation,  and  in  no  department  was  that 
reforming  work  more  needed  than  in  sweeping  away, 
in  Scotland  and  Ireland  alike,  that  Culdee  system  which 
had  lost  its  primitive  power,  and  was  good  for  nothing 
save  for  the  purposes  of  ecclesiastical  plunder  and 
degradation. 

So  much  of  romance  has,  however,  gathered  round 
the  idea  and  name  of  the  Culdees  that  I  must  tell  you 


J 


1  See  Memorials  of  St.  Dunstan,  preface  by  Bishop  Stubbs 
Rolls  Series). 


356  IRELAND. 

more  about  them,  and  point  out  some  traces  of  their 
existence  and  system  which  have  survived,  I  might 
say,  even  to  our  own  times. 

The  Culdees,  in  Dr.  Reeves'  opinion,  were  then  "  the 
corrupt  following "  of  the  ancient  Celtic  monks,  to 
whom  was  applied  this  name  of  Kele-dei  or  Culdees. 
Religion  revived  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
and  then  under  the  reforming  influence  practical  work 
was  found  for  these  ancient  corporations.  At  times 
they  were  entirely  absorbed  in  new  episcopal  or 
monastic  communities.  At  other  times  they  were 
preserved  and  utilized  under  some  other  name,  as  at 
St.  Andrews  and  at  York.  At  St.  Andrews  the 
Culdees  of  the  twelfth  century  shared,  with  the  canons 
of  the  cathedral,  the  election  of  the  bishop.  They 
were  gradually  deprived  of  their  privileges  in  this  and 
other  respects.  The  popes  were  ever  specially  hostile 
to  the  Culdees.  Yet  they  survived  at  St.  Andrews  to 
the  Reformation  period,  when  their  style  was  that  of 
the  "  Provost  and  Chapter  of  St.  Mary's,  the  chapel 
of  the  King  of  the  Scots."  ]  At  York  the  Culdees  were 
in  possession  of  St.  Peter's  Church  (now  the  cathedral) 
in  the  year  936.  In  the  eleventh  century  they  were 
displaced  :  canons,  after  the  Continental  fashion,  took 
the  place  of  the  monks  who  represented  the  ancient 
Celtic  foundation,  and  the  Culdees  established  them- 
selves in  another  quarter  of  the  city,  in  a  hospital  at 
first  called  St.  Peter's  and  then  St.  Leonard's.2  As  it 

'  See  Theiner's  Vet.  Moiium.,  p.  67  (Rome  :   1864). 

3  Dugdale,  Monasticon  Aiiglicanitni,  vol.  vi.,  pt.  ii.,  p.  607 
(London  :  1846).  Dr.  Reeves,  on  p.  59  of  his  Kssay,  says  : 
"  It  would  appear  that  these  Colidei  \vere  the  officiating 
clergy  of  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Peter's  at  York  in  936, 
and  that  they  discharged  the  double  function  of  Divine 
service  and  eleemosynary  entertainment ;  thus  combining 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  357 

was  in  St.  Andrews  and  York,  so  was  it  in  Ireland, 
only  that  here,  as  was  most  natural,  Irishmen  held  more 
tenaciously  to  the  ancient  title.  You  have  all  heard 
the  famous  story  of  the  Irishman  rejoicing  in  all  the 
electoral  dignities  of  a  newly  enfranchised  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  who  was  asked  the  question,  "  For 
whom  will  you  vote?"  "Against  the  Government,  of 
course/'  replied  he.  Well,  perhaps  there  is  an  element 
of  truth  in  the  satire.  There  is  apparently  a  strain 
in  the  Celtic  character  which  delights  in  opposition, 
political  and  ecclesiastical.  When  the  Anglo-Norman 
Church  and  the  Pope  displayed  their  opposition  to  the 
Culdees,  this  only  made  the  Celtic  population  the  more 
determined  in  their  adherence  to  them.  Ireland  is  a 
great  country  for  what  is  called  the  "  ould  stock,"  and 
the  Culdees,  useless,  corrupt,  lax  and  easy-going  in 
discipline,  were  nevertheless  "  the  ould  stock  "  ecclesi- 
astically, and  therefore  they  survived  the  shock  of  the 
Conquest  and  the  decrees  of  the  Synod  of  Cashel  in 
the  monasteries  of  the  west  and  north.  Take  Clon- 
macnois,  for  instance.  The  Culdees  first  appear  there 
by  name  in  the  eleventh  century,  when  a  celebrated 


the  two  leading  characteristics  of  the  old  conventual  system 
common  to  both  the  Irish  and  Benedictine  rules.  But  when 
things  assumed  a  new  complexion,  and  a  Norman  archbishop 
was  appointed,  and  the  foundation  of  a  new  cathedral  laid, 
and  a  more  magnificent  scale  established  for  the  celebration 
of  Divine  worship  in  this  Metropolitan  Church,  the  Colidei, 
or  old  Order  of  officiating  clergy,  were  superseded ;  and, 
while  they  were  excluded  from  their  cathedral  employment, 
they  received  an  extension  of  their  eleemosynary  resources, 
and,  in  order  to  mark  their  severalty,  they  were  removed  to 
another  quarter  of  the  city,  whither  they  took  their  endow- 
ments with  them,  and  thus  continued  through  several  centuries, 
under  an  altered  economy  and  title,  till  all  memory  of  their 
origin  had  perished,  save  what  was  recorded  in  the  preamble 
of  their  charter-book." 


358  IRELAND. 


ecclesiastic,  called,  from  his  devotion  to  the  poor,  Conn 
of  the  Paupers,  was  head  of  the  local  Culdee  hospital. 
The  discipline  of  Clonmacnois  cannot  have  been  very 
strict  in  those  times,  according  to  modern  ideas,  for 
Conn's  father,  one  Joseph,  was  soul  friend  or  con- 
fessor to  the  monastery ;  while  in  the  next  century 
three  generations  of  the  same  sept  of  O'Naghten,  to 
which  Conn  and  his  father  belonged,  were  chiefs  of 
the  Culdees  and  wardens  of  the  hospital,  transmitting 
the  office  from  father  to  son,  till  at  last  we  read  in 
the  Four  Masters,  under  the  date  I2OO,  the  following 
notice  of  the  death  of  the  third  hereditary  chief  of  the 
Culdees,  rejoicing  in  a  name  very  hard  to  pronounce : 
"  Uareirghe,  son  of  Mulmora,  son  of  Uareirghe 
O'Naghten,  one  of  the  noble  sages  of  Clonmacnois,  a 
man  full  of  the  love  of  God,  and  of  every  virtue, 
and  head  of  the  Culdees  of  Clonmacnois,  died  on  the 
tenth  of  March."  ]  But  I  shall  not  delay  you  too  long 
with  the  Culdees,  for  we  have  much  of  the  same  kind 
of  ground  to  go  over.  I  must,  however,  call  your 
attention  to  one  other  place  where  some  traces  of  the 
Culdee  system  remain  to  the  present  day.  Ussher, 
writing  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  his  Antiquities  of  the 
British  Churches,  tells  us  that  within  his  own  memory 
the  presbyters  who  served  in  the  choir  and  celebrated 
Divine  offices  in  the  churches  of  Armagh  and  Clones 
were  called  Culdees.2  Acting  upon  this  hint,  Dr. 
Reeves,  in  his  essay,  traces  the  Culdees  of  Armagh 
all  through  the  ages  which  elapsed  from  the  Synod  of 
Kells  to  the  Reformation.  In  the  thirteenth  century 


1  The  head  of  the  O'Naghtens  still  occupies  a  respectable 
position  among  the  landlords  of  Gahvay  and  Roscommon. 
-  Works,  ed.  Elrington,  vi.,  174. 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  359 


a  dean  and  chapter  were  introduced  at  Armagh,  ac- 
cording to  the  Anglo-Norman  fashion,  no  such  officials 
having  been  previously  known  in  Ireland.  But  the 
Culdees  of  Armagh  were  continued  in  a  modified 
shape.  The  chief,  or  prior,  was  made  precentor  of  the 
cathedral,  and  the  Culdees  were  constituted  the  vicars 
choral.  In  that  shape  they  survived  the  Reformation, 
as  Ussher  testifies,  and  were  incorporated  by  Charles  I. 
as  a  body  corporate,  and  had  all  their  ancient  estates 
confirmed  to  them.1  As  such  they  withstood  even  the 
shock  of  disestablishment ;  and  I  believe  that  in  some 
way  or  other,  thanks  to  the  ancient  Culdee  endow- 
ments and  charters,  the  vicars  choral  or  Culdees  of 
Armagh  are  still  the  best  endowed  musical  corporation 
in  Ireland. 

But  if  the  whole  of  this  lecture  which  remains 
is  not  to  be  taken  up  with  the  one  topic  of  the 
Culdees,  I  must  direct  your  attention  to  some  other 
subjects,  which  shed  light  on  the  survival  of  ancient 
Celtic  ideas  under  the  ecclesiastical  rule  of  the  Anglo- 
Normans  and  the  Pope. 

These  original  Irish  monasteries  in  the  west  per- 
petuated their  ancient  customs  in  another  direction. 
The  literature  produced  in  them  is  just  the  same, 
animated  by  the  same  ideas,  marked  by  the  same 
customs,  before  and  after  the  English  invasion.  For- 
tunately we  have  ample  means  for  making  the  com- 
parison, and  that  in  the  works  which  have  been 
published  under  the  guidance  of  a  great  Celtic  scholar, 
whom,  alas  !  an  untimely  death  has  but  latch'  removed 
from  our  midst.  The  Chronicon  Scotontm,  the  Annals 


1  Sec  Morrin's   Calendar  of  Patent  Rolls  of  Charles  /., 
pp.   125,  221  ;   Reeves,  Cnhfecs,  p.  18. 


360  IRELAND. 

of  Lough  Cc,  and  the  Book  of  Fcnagh,  constitute  a 
monument  which  will  ever  keep  fresh  the  memory  of 
that  generous  and  learned  Irishman,  William  M. 
Hennessy,  the  Assistant  Deputy  Keeper  of  the  Irish 
Records.  Two  of  these  works — the  Chronicon  Scotoritm 
and  the  Annals  of  Lough  Cc — have  been  published  in 
the  Rolls  Series.  The  Book  of  Fcnagh  was  published 
in  conjunction  with  the  late  Mr.  D.  H.  Kelly.  The 
Chronicon  Scotornni  was  originally  compiled  about  the 
year  1150  by  Christian  Malone,  Abbot  of  Clonmacnois, 
a  member  of  one  of  the  principal  ancient  families  of 
Westmeath,  which  is  not  yet  extinct  even  in  the  ranks 
of  the  landlords.  It  is  simply  a  book  of  annals  of 
that  famous  monastery  by  the  Shannon  side.  The 
Book  of  Fcnagh  deals  with  a  monastery  some  fifty  or 
sixty  miles  higher  up  the  same  river,  near  the  waters 
of  Lough  Allen,  the  first  great  expanse  of  the  Shannon 
after  it  leaves  the  mountains  of  Cavan  and  Leitrim. 
The  Book  of  Fcnagh  was  composed  about  the  year 
1300.  It  depicts  the  history  and  asserts  the  claims 
of  the  monastery  of  Fenagh  and  its  patron  saint, 
St.  Caillin. 

The  Annals  of  LougJi  Cc  constitute  a  work  which  is 
perhaps  the  most  effective  for  my  purpose.  It  was  the 
annals  or  chronicles  of  the  Monastery  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  which  stands  on  an  island  in  a  lake  of  Rocking- 
ham  demesne,  some  ten  miles  or  so  from  Fenagh.  It 
was  begun  before  the  English  Conquest,  and  proceeds 
steadily  for  hundreds  of  years  after  that  Conquest,  and 
yet  there  is  no  change  in  the  manners  or  customs  of 
the  community  whose  history  it  records.  The  state  of 
Church  discipline  is  just  the  same  in  1300  as  in  I  100. 
Bishops,  abbots,  monks,  parochial  clergy,  are  married 
or  not,  just  as  they  please.  I  have  shown  you  that  the 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  361 

office  of  Chief  of  the  Culdees  at  Clonmacnois  was 
handed  from  father  to  son  for  three  generations  all 
through  the  twelfth  century.  It  was  the  same  at 
Fenagh  in  Leitrim,  where,  as  Mr.  Hennessy  in  his 
preface  shows,  the  office  of  Abbot  of  Fenagh  was  here- 
ditary in  the  family  of  O'Roddy  from  the  year  800  to 
1516.'  In  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century  a  change 
seems  to  have  been  made,  not  only  in  Fenagh,  but  every- 
where else  throughout  the  Celtic  system.  The  abbots  of 
the  monasteries  were  called  coarbs,  heirs,  or  successors 
of  the  original  founders.  No  term  is  so  common  as 
coarb  in  the  Irish  annals.  In  the  very  beginning  of 
the  Book  of  Fenagh  St.  John  is  called  the  Coarb  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  in  reference,  doubtless,  to  our  Lord's 
words  to  her,  as  recorded  in  John  xix.  26,  "Woman, 
behold  thy  son."  The  Pope  is  called  the  Coarb  of  St. 
Peter  in  the  Clironicon  Sco/or/im,  A.D.  1 148.  The  Abbot 
of  Clonmacnois  was  the  Coarb  of  St.  Kieran,  and  the 
O'Roddys  were  the  Coarbs  of  St.  Caillin  at  Fenagh  for 
nine  hundred  years.  But,  as  I  have  said,  the  twelfth 
century  saw  a  change.  St.  Malachy  of  Armagh,  the 
friend  of  St.  Bernard,  was  probably  the  author  of  it. 
He  was  scandalized  at  the  marriage  of  abbots.  "  He 
restored  the  monastic  and  canonical  rules  of  the  Church 
of  Erin,"  as  the  Chronicon  Scotornni  tells  us  when 
announcing  his  death  in  1 148.  He  seems  to  have 
divided  the  office  of  abbot  into  two  parts.  I  lenceforth 
we  often  find  a  clerical  coarb  who  was  clerical  abbot, 
and  a  lay  coarb  who  managed  the  temporal  estates  of 
the  community  and  was  lay  abbot.  This  latter  office 
the  O'Roddys  retained  for  themselves  till  long  after 

rn     abbeys     see     I 


362  IRELAND. 

the  Reformation,  as  in  1700  we  find  that  Thaddeus 
O'Roddy  still  held  the  same  office  under  the  Bishops  of 
Kilmore,  for  whose  benefit  he  farmed  the  ancient  estates 
of  the  monastery.1  The  Annals  of  Lough  Cc  witness 
to  the  same  fact.  The  author  quite  naturally  records, 
under  the  year  10/0,  the  murder  of  St.  Columba's 
successor  at  lona  by  the  son  of  the  murdered  abbot's 
predecessor,  and  is  not  scandalized  when  he  tells  us 
that  the  Bishop  of  Elphin,  who  died  in  1246,  had  for 
his  father  the  Abbot  of  St.  Mochua's  monastery  at  Balla, 
in  Mayo.  And  the  abbots  of  these  Celtic  monasteries 
did  not  easily  surrender  their  privileges  in  this  respect, 
as  we  learn  from  another  source. 

Among  the  many  publications  with  which  Dr.  Reeves 
has  enriched  our  historical  literature,  none  has  interested 
me  more  than  Primate  Col/on's  Visitation,  for  it  has 
shown  me  conclusive  evidence  of  this  perpetuation  of 
ancient  Celtic  Church  life  in  Anglo-Norman  times.  The 
occasion  of  that  visitation  was  as  follows.  In  the  year 
1 397  the  diocese  of  Derry  was  vacant,  and  had  been  so 
for  the  previous  two  years.  The  primate  had  heard 
rumours  of  various  irregularities  in  the  see  thus  desti- 
tute of  a  chief  pastor.  He  determined  to  go  and  inves- 
tigate for  himself  the  state  of  affairs,  and  the  daily 


1  The  family  of  O'Roddy  preserved  the  insignia  of  their 
office,  the  Book  of  Feiiagh,  with  the  shrine  and  bell  of  the 
saint,  till  fifty  years  ago,  when  the  last  of  the  family  was 
parish  priest  of  Kilronan  in  Lcitrim.  The  Book  of  FcnagJi 
used  to  be  lent  out  by  him  for  a  small  gratuity.  It  was  used 
by  the  peasantry  in  quarrels  among  themselves  ;  an  oath 
taken  upon  St.  Caillin's  book  being  esteemed  as  specially 
binding,  and  a  breach  of  it  as  sure  to  be  followed  by  terrible  con- 
sequences. It  is  now  safe  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy. 
O'Donovan's  "  Breifny  Letters''  in  the  Ordnance  Surrey 
Correspondence  have  much  about  Fenagh,  its  neighbourhood 
and  its  antiquities. 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  363 

record  of  his  work  and  journeyings  now  constitutes  for 
us  a  trustworthy  picture  of  the  life  of  an  Irish  arch- 
bishop about  the  year  1400.  It  was  a  mighty  and  a 
perilous  journey  which  the  primate  was  undertaking. 
The  Primates  of  Armagh  usually  then  lived  at  Termon- 
feckin  near  Drogheda,  and  in  Drogheda  itself,  as  they 
did  till  the  early  part  of  the  last  century.  He  must 
have  looked  forward  with  somewhat  of  fear  and  trem- 
bling to  a  visit  to  Derry  away  in  the  dominions  of  the 
O'Neills.  The  records  of  that  visit  are  full  of  interest. 
They  show  us  the  ancient  Celtic  officials  the  Herenachs 
and  Corbes,  flourishing  and  discharging  their  duties 
in  every  parish,  and  they  prove,  too,  that  the  abbots  of 
the  old  Columban  foundation  at  Derry,  the  Black  Chapel, 
as  it  was  called,  retained  the  ancient  Celtic  customs  in 
one  important  respect.  A  certain  abbot,  named  Odo 
O'Dogherty,  a  well-known  name  still  about  Derry,  had 
taken  to  himself  a  wife  called  Katharine  O'Dogherty. 
A  few  days  before,  this  very  Odo  was  elected  abbot  by 
his  brethren  in  the  presence  of  the  primate,  and  solemnly 
instituted  into  his  office,  and  yet,  though  they  must 
have  known  right  well  of  his  marriage,  they  do  not  think 
him  one  whit  the  less  fitted  to  bear  rule  over  them. 
Primate  John  Colton  has  stricter  notions,  however,  and 
he  issues,  therefore,  a  stern  monition  commanding 
the  expulsion  of  poor  Katherine  from  her  home  and 
husband.1 

But  it  is  not  on  points  of  discipline  alone  that  we 
can  trace  the  old  Celtic  spirit  as  still  rife  in  ecclesiastical 
matters.  It  was  universally  prevalent.  The  monas- 
teries in  the  thirteenth  century  were  as  completely 
tribal  institutions,  bound  up  with  certain  septs  and 

1  Colton's  Visitation,  ed.  Reeves,  pp.  56,  57. 


364  IRELAND. 

hated    by    other    hostile    septs,   as    they    were    in    the 
seventh    or     eighth     century.      There    was    not    the 
slightest  reverence  for  a  monastery  as  such.     The  tiibes 
venerated — sometimes,  but  not  always — the  monasteries 
belonging  to  their  own  patron  saint  or  their  own  tribe. 
But  the  monasteries  of  a  hostile  tribe,  or  of  a  different 
saint,  were  regarded  as  fair  game  for  murder,  plunder, 
and    arson.      The  Book  of  Fcnagh    is    an    interesting 
instance  of  this  mere  tribal  religion  which  the  Church 
of  Rome  tried  hard  to  abolish.     There  were  two  famous 
monasteries  in  contiguous  districts,  where  the  counties 
of  Leitrim  and  Roscommon  touch  one  another.     One 
was  called  Cloone,  the  other  was  Fenagh,  of  which  we 
have  already  spoken.     Now  we  can  have  no  conception, 
till  we  study  the  Book  of  Fenagh,  of  the  bitter  hatred, 
the  deep-seated  hostility,  which  existed  between  these 
two  institutions.     The  Book  of  Fcnagh  shows  us  how 
little    power    the    true    spirit    of   Christianity   had    yet 
gained    over    the  wild,    passionate    Celtic    nature.       It 
describes  the  visitations  made  by  the  Abbot  of  Fenagh 
when  claiming  the  dues  owing  to  him  as  successor  of 
the   famous  St.  Caillin.      It  is  with  the   Fenagh   abbot 
as  with  the  Columban  Abbot  of  Derry,  of  whom  I  have 
already  spoken  :  the  clues  he  most  delights  in  arc  arms, 
battle  dresses,  war  horses,  and  gold.     And  the  Abbots 
of  Fenagh  needed  those  arms  at  times.     They  and  their 
neighbours   at   Cloone   hated   one   another.     They   be- 
longed, indeed,  to  the  same  clan,  but  reverenced  different 
saints  as  their  founders.     The  Book  of  Fcnagli  indulges, 
therefore,  in  the  most  awful  threats  of  hell  and  damna- 
tion against  any  member  of  their  tribe  who  should  dare 
even  to  be  buried  in  Cloone.       It  docs  not  hesitate  at 
anything  to  accomplish  its  purpose.      It  invades  heaven 
itself,  and   records  a  conversation  between  St.  Columba 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  365 


and  St.  Caillin  on  this  subject.1     St.  Caillin  is  the  first 
speaker.     He  asks  Columba — 

"  Say,  O  holy  Colum,  what 

On  them  shall  the  vengeance  be, 
When  they  from  me  depart, 
That  they  may  go  to  Cloone  ?  " 

To  which  Columba  replies — 

"  Each  one  that  forsakes  thee, 
Of  thy  own  monks, 
Whilst  we  may  be  in  heaven 
Shall  in  torment  be. 
1  pledge  thee  my  hand, 
Whoever  will  thee  oppose 
Shall  get  his  evil  reward 
After  leaving  the  body." 

But  notwithstanding  all  the  threats  which  the  Abbot 
of  Fenagh  so  liberally  dealt  out,  the  neighbouring 
tribes  of  the  more  distant  west  often  plundered  his 
fields  and  burned  his  buildings.  In  the  Annals  of 
Lough  Cc  we  have  a  story  told  which  gives  us  a  vivid- 
picture  of  monastic  life  and  of  tribal  hatred  in  the  year 
1244.  I  shall  tell  the  story  as  briefly  as  possible. 
Phelim  O'Conor,  King  of  Connaught,  son  of  Cathal 
of  the  Red  Hand,  of  whom  we  have  heard  so  much 
in  other  lectures,  was  engaged  in  one  of  his  annual 
plundering  and  murdering  expeditions.  He  was  march- 
ing on  this  occasion  against  the  O'Reillys  of  Cavan ; 
and  Fenagh  was  and  still  is  on  the  direct  route  from 
Croghan  and  the  plains  of  Roscommon,  where  O'Conor 
lived,  to  Cavan  and  Lei  trim.  Phelim  and  his  army 
encamped  one  night  in  the  monastery  of  Fenagh.  The 
church  was  then  roofless,  and  filled  with  a  number 
of  huts  erected  in  the  interior.  These  the  army 
occupied  by  night,  and  then,  in  all  the  wantonness 
of  mischief,  set  fire  to  them  as  they  were  departing  in 


1  Book  of  Fenctgli ,  ed.  Kelly  and  Hennessy,  pp.  193,  joj. 


366  IRELAND. 


the  morning,  smothering  in  the  process  the  coarb's 
foster-son.  Next  day  the  coarb,  O' Roddy,  followed  the 
army  and  in  a  rage  demanded  the  eric  l  of  his  foster- 
son.  O'Conor  said  he  would  give  him  his  own  award. 
"  My  award,"  said  the  vengeful  coarb,  "is,  that  the  best 
man  amongst  you  be  burned  by  you  as  the  eric  of 
my  foster-son  " — a  demand  which,  of  course,  O'Conor 
declined.  The  coarb  was  not  satisfied,  however.  He 
declared  his  intention  to  follow  O'Conor  and  his  army 
till  his  eric  was  paid,  which  he  did  till  the  best  hero  in 
the  army  was  accidentally  killed  by  the  falling  of  a  beam, 
when  the  enraged  coarb  was  bought  off  with  a  present 
of  silver  and  of  thirty  horses.  This  fierce,  passionate, 
bloodthirsty  spirit  was  universal.  No  place  was  too 
sacred  for  attack.  Innis-Cleraun  in  Lough  Ree  was 
a  great  sanctuary,  and  is  still  an  object  of  reverence. 
St.  Diarmid's  memory  still  flings  a  halo  round  it,  but  in 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  it  was  plundered 
and  burned  again  and  again.  We  do  not  wonder  at 
the  Anglo-Normans  treating  Clonmacnois  thus  in  the 
very  first  years  of  the  invasion,  for  they  had  the 
greatest  contempt  for  St.  Kieran  and  all  the  Celtic 
saints  except  St.  Patrick.  But  when  we  find  O'Conors, 
O'Donnells,  O'Neills,  and  O'Briens  treating  in  this 
manner  spots  so  venerated  as  Clonmacnois,  Innis- 
Cleraun,  and  Derry,  we  may  be  sure  that  religion  was 
at  a  very  low  ebb  indeed.  And  the  fighting  spirit  of  the 
ancient  ecclesiastical  kind,  such  as  the  bishop-kings 
of  Cashel  displayed,  long  survived  even  among  the 
clergy.  Let  me  illustrate  this  with  a  story,  which  will 
cast  light  upon  other  topics  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking. 

1  Eric  was  a  fine  or  compensation  for  bloodshed  or  injury 
according  to  Brehon  law. 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  367 

I  must  ask  you  to  come  with  me  to  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Birr,  or  Parsonstovvn,  in  the  King's  County. 
It  is  now  famous  for  the  possession  of  the  largest 
telescope  in  the  world  ;  but  it  has  also  been  noted 
for  stirring  events  in  the  history  of  this  country.  And 
naturally  enough,  too,  for  it  was  on  the  borderland 
between  the  English  and  the  Irish.  It  looked  on  the 
one  side  towards  Galway  ;  on  the  other  side  towards 
the  palatinate  of  Tipperary,  with  its  Norman  castles 
manned  by  the  Butlers  and  their  retainers.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  Birr  the  last  genuine  specimen  of 
the  ancient  Irish  chieftain  lingered  till  the  end  of  the 
last,  or  the  beginning  of  the  present,  century.  The 
MacCoghlan,  or,  as  he  is  in  the  tradition  of  the  country 
side  still  called,  the  Maw,  was  the  last  landlord  who  wore 
the  ancient  Irish  dress  and  lived  at  home  in  the  ancient 
Irish  style.  He  was  member  of  Parliament  for  the 
King's  County,  and  dressed  when  in  Dublin  in  the 
usual  fashion,  but  once  he  set  his  feet  back  on  his  native 
heath,  he  cast  Dublin  and  English  fashions  to  the  winds, 
and  resumed  the  attire  and  customs  of  his  ancestors. 
And  he  certainly  had  ancestors,  not  going  back  a  mere 
wretched  century  or  two  like  our  mushroom  families 
of  to-day,  but  going  back  fourteen  or  fifteen  centuries, 
all  of  whom  had  ruled  the  dominion  which,  in  part  at 
least,  continued  in  his  family  till  his  own  time,  and  now 
forms  the  Barony  of  Garrycastle,  though  in  former  times 
known  as  MacCoghlan's  country.1  Four  hundred  and 
fifty  years  there  was  a  Bishop  of  Clonmacnois  of  that 


'See,  for  a  description  of  the  dress,  mode  of  living,  etc., 
of  the  last  MacCoghlan,  the  Irish  Penny  Journal,  A.D.  1840, 
pp.  145-47  •  cf-  Irish  Topographical  Poems  in  Arch.  Soc. 
Series,  notes,  p.  vii ;  O'Donovan's  notes  on  Four  Masters, 
A.D.  1178,  1572,  1601.  About  MacCogb^an's  country  in  the 


368  IRELAND. 

same  family.  It  was  natural  that  it  should  be  so. 
Clonmacnois  is  but  a  few  miles  distant — six  or  seven  at 
most — from  the  castle  and  territory  of  The  MacCoghlan  ; 
and  when  Cormac  MacCoghlan,  a  son  of  the  family, 
took  Holy  Orders,  it  \vas  but  fitting,  from  a  Celtic  point 
of  view,  that  the  chiefs  son  should  rapidly  rise  through 
the  various  gradations  till  at  last  he  was  made  Bishop 
of  Clonmacnois  about  the  year  1426.  He  ruled  his 
diocese  for  eighteen  years,  and  then  died  a  most 
unclerical  death.  He  must  then  have  been  at  least 
fifty  years  of  age  ;  still  the  fire  of  youth  and  the  love 
of  fighting  had  not  yet  died  out  in  the  heart  of  a 
MacCoghlan,  even  though  he  was  a  bishop.  Cormac 
MacCoghlan  had  been  long  at  Clonmacnois,  and,  as 
bishop,  was  head  of  extensive  estates  and  a  numerous 
tenantry  in  King's  County,  Westmeath,  and  in  Con- 
naught.  The  Clonmacnois  men,  when  headed  by  the 
monks,  had  often  in  ancient  times  proved  themselves  no 
mean  warriors,  and  even  still  at  a  fair  or  market,  and 
above  all  things  at  an  election,  till  modern  legislation 
tyrannically  interfered  with  the  amusement,  were  first- 
rate  manipulators  of  their  blackthorn  sticks.  Bishop 
MacCoghlan  quarrelled  with  the  head  of  his  own 
family,  The  MacCoghlan,  and  both  sides  agreed  to 
submit  their  complaints  to  the  arbitration  of  a  neigh- 
bouring chief  named  O'Madden.  All  the  parties  to  the 
quarrel  gathered  in  force  to  meet  O'Madden,  who 
seems,  however,  to  have  failed  to  keep  his  appointment. 
At  any  rate  there  was  some  delay,  when  the  bishop, 


year  1626,  see  Morrin's  Patents  of  Charles,  p.  96.  It  was 
then  the  seat  of  a  Sir  Matthew  do  Renzi,  in  whose  memory 
a  famous  monument  exists  in  St.  Mary's  Church,  Athlone. 
He  seems  to  have  been  an  Irish  scholar,  though  of  German 
descent. 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  369 

inflamed  by  the  sight  of  such  a  number  of  armed  men, 
and  thinking  it  a  pity  that  such  a  fine  chance  for  a  fight 
should  be  lost,  would  force  the  matter  to  a  decision  at 
once.  He  vigorously  attacked  the  opposite  party,  but 
was  utterly  defeated ;  the  bishop  himself,  his  son 
James,  Archdeacon  of  Clonmacnois,  the  bishop's  two 
brothers,  and  the  two  sons  of  Archdeacon  MacCoghlan, 
with  more  than  twenty  others,  being  slain  on  the 
Monday  before  the  feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.1  How 
thoroughly  Celtic  the  whole  thing  !  How  it  reminds  us 
of  what  we  read  seven  or  eight  hundred  years  earlier, 
when  the  monasteries  of  Durrow  and  Clonmacnois, 
with  their  retainers,  tenantry,  and  slaves,  used  to  join 
in  deadly  battle  !  Yet  this  episcopal  warrior  died  sixty 
years  after  Wickliffe,  and  but  forty  years  before  Luther 
was  born.  Mark,  too,  the  traces  of  Celtic  times  in 
other  respects.  The  bishop  was  just  like  the  ancient 
abbots  of  Clonmacnois  ;  he  had  his  own  son  and  placed 
him  in  a  position  of  authority,  while  other  members 
of  the  sept  filled  other  positions  of  dignity  and  trust. 
I  do  not  think  you  will  need  any  further  proof  of  the 
long  survival  of  Celtic  ideas  in  the  Church  of  Ireland. 

And  yet  we  have  much  more  evidence  bearing  on 
this  very  point.  The  threefold  division  of  the  tithes 
and  other  oblations  and  revenues  of  the  clergy  lasted, 
in  the  Celtic  portion  of  the  Irish  Church,  to  a  longer 
period  than  anywhere  else  in  Europe.  In  tiie  early 
Church,  ecclesiastical  revenues  were  sometimes  divided 
into  four  portions,  sometimes  into  three,  one  portion 
always  going  to  the  bishop  for  his  support.  This 
custom  prevailed  in  France,  Spain,  and  England,  till 

1  Sot-  the  whole  story  told  in  ;i  paper  in  the  Jour  mil  of  the 
Kilk.  Arch.  Society,  t.  i.,  p.  }8o,  by  T.  L.  C'ooke,  Ksq.,  on  ''A 
Wayside  Ancient  Monument  at  Drisoge  in  the  King's  County." 

24 


370  IRELAND. 

the  sees  were  endowed  with  landed  property,  when 
the  tithes  and  other  oblations  of  the  laity  were  wholly 
devoted  to  the  parochial  clergy,  the  monasteries,  and 
the  sustenance  of  the  fabrics  of  the  churches.  This 
was  in  the  time  when  the  tithes  were  really  a  tenth 
of  every  kind  of  produce  ;  when  the  tenth  gallon  of  ale 
brewed  in  Dublin,  and  the  tenth  fish  taken  in  the  Bay 
of  Dublin,  belonged  to  the  clergy.  In  the  eastern 
dioceses,  where  the  sees  were  at  once  endowed  with 
ample  estates  by  the  Anglo-Norman  conquerors,  the 
bishops  never  seem  to  have  enjoyed  the  "Episcopal 
Thirds,"  as  this  source  of  income  \vas  called.  But  in 
the  west  and  north  of  Ireland  it  was  quite  otherwise. 
In  the  diocese  of  Clogher,  which  was  thoroughly  Celtic 
till  the  seventeenth  century,  the  third  part  of  the  tithes 
was  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  bishop,  till  the  time 
of  James  I.,  when  Bishop  Montgomery  obtained  from 
the  Crown  a  handsome  endowment  for  the  see.  In  the 
diocese  of  Tuam,  this  method  of  distributing  the  tithes 
lasted  till  the  year  1717,  when  Archbishop  Synge 
procured  an  Act  of  Parliament  for  the  consolidation  of 
the  "  Quarter  Episcopals,"  as  they  were  locally  called, 
with  the  remainder  of  the  tithes.  In  Killala  we  find  a 
similar  arrangement  existing  till  1663  ;  in  Elphin  till 
1633  ;  in  Derry  and  Raphoe  till  the  plantation  of  Ulster  in 
the  times  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  The  most  curious 
instance  of  survival  of  this  ancient  primitive  custom 
remains,  however,  yet  to  be  told,  for  it  is  a  simple  fact 
that  the  Quarter  Episcopals  continued  to  be  a  portion 
of  the  episcopal  revenues  of  Clonfert  and  Kilmacduagh 
till  the  temporalities  of  these  sees  were  vested  in  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners  in  the  year  I833-1 


1  In   the   Isle   of  Man,  which   was  thoroughly  Celtic  in   its 
Church  organization   and  discipline,   we    find  the    Episcopal 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN   TIMES. 


Again,  the  old  literary  life  of  the  Celtic  Church  did  not 
wholly  die  out  in  the  west  and  north-west  of  Ireland. 
There  was  a  far  more  active  literary  life  in  the 
Celtic  parts  of  Ireland  than  in  the  Anglo-Norman 
districts — an  activity  which  was  perpetuated  till  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  it  produced  such  great 
epoch-marking  works  as  the  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters,  and  the  great  monumental  collections  of 
Colgan,  for  Colgan  and  the  annalists  called  the  Four 
Masters  were  all  of  them  natives  of  the  west  and 
north-west  of  Ireland.1 

The  profession  of  poet,  historian,  and  linguist  con- 
tinued to  be  a  popular  one  in  the  west,  down  to  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century.  The  history  of  the 
MacFirbis  family  amply  shows  how  this  literary  life 
and  the  literary  succession  of  the  west  were  maintained. 
Sir  James  Ware  gets  credit  for  being  a  great  Irish 
scholar.  He  was  a  diligent  student  and  antiquarian, 
but  his  Irish  scholarship  was  all  due  to  Dudley 
MacFirbis,  an  Irish  scholar  and  historian  from  Mayo, 
whom  he  kept  in  his  pay  at  his  house  in  Castle  Street, 
Dublin.  Dudley  MacFirbis  was  a  great  Celtic  scholar*. 
He  belonged  to  a  family  which  can  be  traced  backwards 
for  at  least  four  hundred  years,  following  all  the  while 
the  profession  of  poets  and  antiquarians  to  a  Mayo 
chieftain.  To  his  ancestors  in  the  direct  line  we  owe 
two  of  our  greatest  Celtic  treasures  :  the  Book  of  Lccan, 
written  by  a  MacFirbis  before  the  year  1416,  which  is 


Thirds  mentioned  as  a  source  of  the  bishop's  revenue  in  a 
charter  of  the  year  1505.  Cf.  Dug-dale's  Monast.  Anglic., 
vol.  i.,  p.  718  ;  and  Dr.  Reeves's  exhaustive  note  in  his  edition 
of  Colton's  Visitation,  p.  112  (Dublin:  Irish  Archaeological 
Society,  1850). 

1  See  O'Donovan's  Preface  to  Annals  of  Four  Ufasfcrs, 
vol.  iii. 


372  IRELAND. 

now  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  ;  and  the  Yellow  Book 
of  Lccan,  written  about  the  same  period,  and  in  part  by 
the  same  hand.1  The  wars  and  confusions  of  Ireland 
which  I  have  already  striven  to  depict  never  seem  to 
have  quenched  the  love  of  learning  in  the  Celtic  breast ; 
and  all  through  its  darkest  periods,  Celtic  schools  existed 
after  the  ancient  fashion,  where  Latin,  Greek,  history, 
and  the  Brehon  law  system  were  carefully  studied,  and 
the  interpretations  of  the  ancients  transmitted  by  living 
tradition.  Dudley  MacFirbis  had  no  difficulty,  even  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  in  finding  such  centres  of 
Celtic  study.  He  passed  about  1590  into  Munster, 
where  he  attended  the  school  of  law  and  history  kept 
by  the  MacEgans  of  Lecan  in  Ormond,  in  Tipperary, 
whence  after  a  time  he  transferred  himself  to  the 
Academy  of  the  O'Davoreris  of  Burren  in  the  county 
Clare.2  After  pursuing  a  lengthened  course  at  these 
places,  Dudley  MacFirbis  then  devoted  a  long  life, 
terminated  only  by  a  sad  and  tragic  death,  to  the 
subject  of  Celtic  scholarship,  wherein  he  not  only 
rendered  the  most  valued  help  to  men  like  Sir  James 


1  Lecan  is  in  Mayo,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  Moy. 
The  MacFirbises  were  settled  there  prior  to  the  year  1397. 
Mr.  Hennessy,  in  his  Preface  to  the  Chronicon  Scotorum,  gives 
much  interesting  information  about  the  family.  From  his 
interesting  narrative  I  have  borrowed  freely. 

-  The  MacKgans,  as  Mr.  Hennessy  says,  were  hereditary 
Brehons  and  professors  of  the  old  Irish  laws,  and  descendants 
of  the  men  who  compiled  the  splendid  vellum  MS.  called  the 
Leabhar  Brcac,  or  "  Speckled  Book,''  preserved  in  the  library 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  This  MS.,  compiled  in  the  year 
1397,  is  the  most  valuable  repertory  now  remaining  of  ancient 
Irish  ecclesiastical  affairs.  It  was  composed  in  the  county 
Galway.  A  lithographic  fac-simile  of  it  was  published  in  1876 
by  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Gilbert.  See  his  Account  of  Fac-siwiles  of  tJic 
yJ/A'.V.  of  Ireland,  pp.  108-111. 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  373 

Ware,  Roderick  O' Flaherty,  and  Dr.  John  Lynch,  the 
author  of  Cambrensis  Evcrsus ;  but  also  produced 
several  independent  works  which  are  now  of  the 
greatest  value.  But  if  you  are  interested  in  the  subject 
of  Celtic  literature,  read  O'Curry's  Manuscript  Materials 
for  Irish  History,  or  Hennessy's  preface  to  the  Chronicon 
Scotoruni,  and  there  you  will  see  how  deep  are  our 
obligations  to  Dudley  MacFirbis.  I  merely  bring  him 
forward  as  a  notable  instance  proving  that  the  traditions 
of  ancient  Irish  scholarship  were  perpetuated  in  the 
Celtic  portion  of  the  Irish  Church  all  through  the  ages 
of  Anglo-Norman  dominion. 

Admitting,  then,  that  there  was  a  tone  and  colour  and 
life  peculiar  to  itself  in  the  Celtic  Church  of  Ireland,  you 
may  ask  me  what  were  the  peculiar  features  of  what  I 
designate  the  Anglo-Norman  Church.  Its  peculiarities 
were  numerous.  The  Anglo-Norman  Church  built 
splendid  churches  and  monasteries.  Wherever  there 
is  a  grand  building  or  a  magnificent  ecclesiastical  ruin 
in  Ireland,  from  Limerick  and  Kerry  in  the  south-west 
to  Antrim  in  the  north,  it  is  due  to  the  Anglo-Normans, 
or  to  Anglo-Norman  influence  acting  upon  the  Celts. 
The  Anglo-Norman  Church  had  its  controversies  too, 
but  they  were  concerning  topics  of  interest  in  England. 
Transubstantiation  and  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion were  debated  in  England  in  the  age  of  Wicklifte. 
Usshcr  tells  us  that  about  the  same  period  Henry 
Crumpe,  a  monk  of  Baltinglass,  wrote  a  treatise  against 
that  doctrine,  to  which  William  Andrew,  Bishop  of 
Meath  from  1380  to  1385,  replied.1  The  Anglo-Norman 
Church  in  Ireland  was  intolerant  of  opposition,  and 

1  Ussher's  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Irish,  cap.  iv. ,  in 
Works,  ed.  Klrington,  t.  iv.,  p.  285.  Crumpe  was  also  an 
opponent  of  the  Mendicants.  Cf.  Usshcr,  I.e.,  pp.  302,  303. 


374  IRELAND. 

used  the  temporal  sword,  as  it  did  in  England,  to  crush 
opposition.  The  opening  years  of  the  fourteenth  century 
were  rendered  famous  by  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
contests  over  the  case  of  Dame  Alice  Kyteler  of  Kil- 
kenny, accused  of  witchcraft  and  heresy,  when  a  certain 
woman  named  Petronilla,  of  Mcath,  suffered  death  by 
fire  at  Kilkenny,  in  1324 — being  the  first  person  ever  so 
punished  in  Ireland ;  while  her  high-born  associates, 
William  Outlaw  and  the  Lady  Alice  Kyteler,  narrowly 
escaped  the  same  terrible  fate  by  doing  ample  penance 
and  covering  with  lead  the  roof  of  St.  Canice's  cathedral. 
The  native  Celts  were  soon  after  made  to  feel  the  stern 
arm  of  the  same  ecclesiastical  discipline,  when  in  1327 
a  certain  Adam  Duff,  a  Leinster  man,  and  of  the  tribe 
of  the  O'Tooles,  was  burned  alive  on  College  Green  for 
denying  the  doctrines  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  of  the 
Incarnation,  and  rejecting  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
See.1  The  Anglo-Norman  Church  was  not  content, 
however,  with  repressive  measures.  It  strove  to  meet 
the  rising  tide  of  heresy  and  freethought  which  marked 
the  fourteenth  century  by  intellectual  efforts  as  well. 
The  Franciscan  and  Dominican  friars  were  then  the 
leaders  of  religious  education.  They  must  have  known 
of  the  Celtic  schools  of  Ireland  and  their  teaching,  but 
they  scorned  them  because  they  knew  nothing  of  the 
schoolmen  and  their  methods.  Under  their  inspiration, 
therefore,  Archbishop  Leech,  of  Dublin,  obtained  a  bull 
from  Pope  Clement  V.,  in  1311,  establishing  the 

1  The  proceedings  in  these  earliest  cases  of  Irish  heresy  may 
be  seen,  those  concerning  Alice  Kyteler  in  a  volume  published 
by  the  Camden  Society  (cf.  Grace's  Annals,  pp.  100-2  ; 
Clyn's  Annals,  p.  16,  Dublin  Archajol.  Sec.);  and  those  in 
Adam  Duff's  case  in  Grace's  Annals,  pp.  107,  108,  published 
in  the  same  series.  Cf.  Pope  Benedict's  epistles  on  the  subject 
in  Theiner's  I'ctcra  Monumenta,  p.  269  (Rome  : 


THE  CELTIC  CHl/RCII  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  375 


University  of  Dublin,  a  project  which  hung  fire  for  a 
time,  but  was  completed  by  his  successor,  Alexander 
de  Bicknor,  in  1320,  when  the  Chapter  of  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral  was  endowed  with  university  powers,  a  faint 
shadow  of  which  was  claimed  so  lately  as  the  time  of 
Dean  Swift.  A  complete  university  organization  was 
adopted,  and  continued  in  active  operation,  chiefly 
under  Franciscan  direction,  all  through  the  fourteenth 
century,  but  seems  to  have  died  from  poverty  and  the 
confusion  of  the  times,  till  revived  in  the  days  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  when  the  College  of  the  Holy  and  Undivided 
Trinity  was  founded  for  the  same  purpose,  that  Ireland 
might  breed  and  teach  a  race  of  scholars  from  its  own 
children  and  upon  its  own  soil.1  While  again  we  can 
show  that  the  same  intellectual  activity  characterised 
the  Dublin  Franciscans  of  that  period  as  animated  their 
English  brethren,  for  there  still  exists  the  diary  of  two 
members  of  the  Dublin  community,  Simon  Fitz-Simeon 
and  Hugh  the  Illuminator,  who  about  1320  set  out  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land,  leaving  us  a 
record  of  their  travels  which  is  still  of  importance,  as 
illustrating  the  social  and  religious  state  of  Egypt  and 
the  East  when  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Crusades  had 
passed  away.' 

The  feature,   however,   which   chiefly   strikes   us    in 
the   Anglo-Norman    Church,   and   confirms   us  in    the 

1  For  the  history  of  this  earliest  University  of  Dublin,  see 
Mason's  History  of  St.  Patrick,  Appendix  No.   I.;    Ware's 
Antiquities,  ch.   xv.,  in  Harris's  edition,  pp.  242-5  ;   Grace's 
Annals,  p.  g/,  with  Dean  Butler's  notes.     During-  the  reign 
of  Edward  IV.   an   Act  was  passed,   in   1465,  establishing-    a 
university  in   Drogheda  ;    but  this   never  came  to    anything. 
See  Harris's  Ware,  ii.,  245. 

2  This  curious  and  little  known  Irish  document  was  printed 
at  Cambridge  in  17/8,  by  James  Nasmith,  and  is  in  large  part 
reprinted  in  the  Retrospective  Review  for  1828,  pp.  232-54. 


376  IRELAND. 

distinction  we  have  made  between  it  and  the  Celtic 
Church,  is  the  persistent  and  bitter  hostility  we  can 
trace  between  these  two  sections  of  our  Irish  Chris- 
tianity from  the  Conquest  to  the  Reformation.  That 
hostility  burst  forth,  as  I  have  already  noted  in  an 
earlier  lecture,  in  the  very  first  days  of  Anglo-Norman 
rule.  In  1186  a  Council  was  held  at  Dublin  by  Arch- 
bishop Comyn,  before  which  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
preached  a  very  cutting  sermon,  accusing  the  native 
Celtic  clergy  of  all  kinds  of  riot  and  ungodliness 
— the  clergy  of  drunkenness,  the  bishops  of  care- 
lessness— in  reply  to  one  preached  by  the  Abbot  of 
Baltinglass,  the  day  before,  in  which  he  accused  the 
Anglo-Norman  clergy  of  corrupting  their  Irish  brethren 
by  their  evil  example.1  The  ball  of  mutual  hostility 
when  once  set  rolling,  rapidly  increased.  Early  in 
the  thirteenth  century  the  Anglo-Norman  Church  pro- 
hibited the  admission  of  Irish  clerks  into  monasteries, 
benefices,  or  cathedral  dignities  under  English  control, 
a  statute  which  called  forth  the  papal  rebuke  in  1220 


'See  Girald.  Camb.,  Opp.,  t.  i.,  pp.  65-72  (Rolls  Series). 
In  his  Topugraph.  Dist.,  iii.,  cap.  xxxii.,  Giraldus  shows  that 
matters  were  very  nearly  becoming  serious  on  that  occasion, 
lie  tells  us  that  he  was  speaking  to  Maurice,  Archbishop  of 
Cashel,  concerning  the  sad  state  of  the  Irish  Church,  and 
throwing  the  blame  upon  the  prelates.  Giraldus,  however, 
will  tell  his  own  tale  best :  "  I  drew  a  powerful  argument  from 
the  fact  that  no  one  in  that  kingdom  had  ever  obtained  the 
crown  of  martyrdom.  Upon  this  the  archbishop  replied 
sarcastically,  answering  it  by  a  home-thrust:  'It  is  true,'  he 
said,  '  that  although  our  nation  may  seem  barbarous,  un- 
civilised, and  cruel,  they  have  always  shown  great  honour  and 
reverence  to  their  ecclesiastics,  and  never  on  any  occasion 
raised  their  hands  against  God's  saints.  But  there  is  now 
come  into  our  land  a  people  who  know  how  to  make  martyrs, 
and  have  frequently  done  it.  Henceforth  Ireland  will  have  its 
martyrs  as  well  as  other  countries.'  '  Remembering  the 
then  recent  murder  of  Thomas  a  Becket,  we  do  not  think  the 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  377 

and  again  in  I224.1  Later  in  the  same  century  the 
prelates  of  the  Celtic  portion  of  the  Church  replied 
by  a  similar  prohibition,  forbidding  the  admission  of 
Englishmen  to  parishes  or  monasteries  within  their 
jurisdiction  ;  a  law  which  the  Pope  again  annulled  on 
the  special  ground  that  it  was  intended  to  secure  the 
ancient  Celtic  abuse  of  hereditary  succession  to 
benefices.  And  so  matters  went  on  till  the  Statute 
of  Kilkenny  was  passed,  which  again,  as  we  have 
already  noted,  peremptorily  forbade  the  admission  of 
Irishmen  to  any  benefice  or  other  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment wherever  English  law  or  rule  prevailed.  The 
fourteenth  differed  in  one  important  respect  from  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  popes  held  the  balance  fairly 
in  the  earlier  time.  In  the  later  period  they  became 
thorough  partisans,  and  raised  no  protest  against  a 
legislation  which  was  completely  alien  to  the  spirit  of 
genuine  Christianity.  The  Statute  of  Kilkenny  was 
no  longer  protested  against.  The  popes  became  the 
adherents  of  the  Anglo-Norman  party  in  the  Irish 
Church,  supporting  their  narrow  exclusiveness  till  the 
lowest  depths  were  reached,  when  Leo  X.  in  the 
year  1515  issued  a  bull  reorganizing  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral.  In  that  bull,  dealing  with  the  internal 
economy  of  a  cathedral  called  after  Ireland's  patron 
saint,  --over  whose  door,  too,  there  then  stood  a  statue 


English  archdeacon  scored  much  off  the  Irish  archbishop  ; 
though,  as  these  pages  have  shown,  the  archbishop's  history 
was  somewhat  inaccurate.  Hut  then,  in  an  encounter  of 
words  and  wits,  point,  not  accuracy,  always  carries  the  day. 
In  his  treatise,  De  Rebus  a  sc  Gestis,  in  vol.  i.,  quoted  above, 
Giraldus  tells  us  that  the  Bishop  of  Ossory  told  the  arch- 
bishop, when  supping  with  him  the  night  of  the  archdeacon's 
sermon,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  he  kept  his  episcopal  hands 
off  the  preacher.  Synods  were  lively  in  those  days. 
1  Cf.  Theiner's  Vet.  Monum.,  pp.  16,  23. 


3;8  IRELAND. 


of  that  saint,  which  now  you  will  find  in  the  baptistery 
or  little  chapel  on  the  left  of  the  south-western  entrance, 
— there  was  inserted  the  following  papal  injunction  : 
"  Furthermore,  that  ancient  custom,  concerning  Irish- 
men, by  nation,  manners,  and  blood,  who  should  not  be 
admitted  in  the  said  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Patrick, 
any  royal  dispensation  notwithstanding ;  it  is  agreed 
that  it  shall  flourish,  grow  strong,  and  prevail  with  a 
vigorous  and  perpetual  care.  Furthermore,  let  diligent 
examination  be  made  as  well  by  the  Archbishop  as  by 
the  Dean  and  Chapter,  and  if  any  person  shall  be  found 
defective  in  these  or  in  any  other  of  the  aforesaid 
matters,  let  him  not  be  admitted,  but  rather  let  him 
be  at  once  expelled."  l  Surely  Church  matters  must 
have  come  to  a  dreadful  pass  in  Ireland  when  the 
Pope,  the  Patriarch  of  Western  Christendom,  could,  in 
the  year  1515,  thus  lend  himself  to  the  ecclesiastical 
ostracism  of  the  Celtic  race,  and  avow  himself  the 
partisan  of  one  section  of  the  Church  of  Ireland.2 

I  have  now  come,   however,  to   the   limits   which  I 
have  marked  for  myself.     Were  I  to  go  farther  I  should 


1  See  the  original  bull,  as  given  in  Mason's  History  of 
St.  Patrick's,  Appendix,  p.  xv ;  cf.  pp.  142-44.  This  bull, 
I  may  remark,  is  not  to  be  found  in  Theiner's  Vet  era  Monu- 
menta  Hibernorum,  published  by  papal  authority  in  1864. 

-  It  is  consoling,  amid  so  much  that  was  dark  and  un- 
Christian,  to  light  upon  some  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
spiritual  religion  in  those  times  of  disorder  of  which  we 
treat.  In  Marsh's  Library  I  have  under  my  care  a  manu- 
script once  belonging  to  the  learned  Dudley  Loftus.  It  is  a 
transcript  made  in  March  1688  for  the  benefit  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Clogher.  It  is  of  some  interest  in  a 
political  point  of  view,  for  it  shows  by  its  dedication  to  the 
"  Right  Rev.  Father  Patricke,  Lord  Bishop  of  Clogher,  Chief 
Secretary  for  the  King's  Most  Sacred  and  Excellent  Majestie 
in  the  Kingdome  of  Ireland,"  that  James  II.  had  determined 
months  before  his  deposition  to  overthrow  the  existing  con- 
stitution. To  the  ecclesiastical  historian  it  is  of  even  still 


THE  CELTIC  CHURCH  IN  ANGLO-NORMAN  TIMES.  379 

tread  upon  the  boundaries  of  the  modern  history  of 
Ireland.  At  some  other  time,  if  God  spares  me  health 
and  strength,  I  hope  to  deal  with  that  subject.  I  now 
close  my  lectures  on  the  mediaeval  section  of  Ireland's 
history.  They  have  not,  like  my  previous  course,  dealt 
with  characters  and  persons  of  world-wide  reputation. 
St.  Patrick,  St.  Columba,  St.  Columbanus,  are  much 
better  known  than  John  Comyn,  Hugh  de  Lacy,  or 
Richard  Fitz-Ralph.  But  all  the  same,  the  period 
with  which  this  course  has  dealt  has  more  living 
interest  for  ourselves,  for  we  are  the  recipients  of  its 
blessings  and  of  its  curse.  I  once  heard  an  orator 
declare  in  one  of  our  Synods,  when  speaking  of  Irish 
history,  and  the  utility,  or  the  opposite,  of  teaching 
it  to  young  people  :  "  In  my  opinion  the  less  they 
know  about  it  the  better."  I  do  not  agree  in  that 
view,  and  I  hope  you  do  not  agree  in  it  either.  It  is 
an  ignorant  opinion  ;  it  is  a  narrow,  a  bigoted,  and  a 
dangerous  opinion.  What  light,  what  guidance,  what 
blessing  for  his  country  can  one  hope  to  gain  from  a 
man  who  thinks  the  less  people  know  about  the  history 
of  their  own  land  the  better  ?  No  man  can  be  a  true 
Irish  statesman  who  knows  not  the  past  history  of  the 
land  with  which  he  deals.  A  physician  might  as  well 
undertake  to  cure  a  patient  without  knowing  the  history 


more  interest.  Its  title  is  "The  Pilgrim,  or  the  Pilgrimage 
of  Man  in  this  World,  wherein  the  Author  plainly  and  truly 
sets  forth  the  wretchedness  of  Man's  life  in  this  world 
without  Grace,  our  sole  protector.  Written  in  the  year  of 
Christ  1331."  It  was  given  to  the  Bishop  of  Clogher  by  a 
man  named  O'Brien,  \vho  claimed  descent  from  Brian  Boru. 
He  found  it  among 'his  father's  papers,  and  copied  it  for  the 
bishop's  use.  It  is  evidently  a  translation  of  Guillaume  de 
Deguildeville's  celebrated  allegory.  I  have  not  had  time, 
however,  to  determine  its  relation  to  other  versions. 


380  IRELAND. 


of  his  life  and  disease,  as  a  statesman  undertake  to 
legislate  for  a  country  of  whose  history  he  is  ignorant. 
Every  parochial  clergyman  has  in  his  own  limited 
sphere  somewhat  of  a  statesman's  influence.  He  can 
promote  love,  joy,  peace,  social  charity  in  his  parish 
and  neighbourhood,  or  he  may  be  the  minister  of 
discord,  hatred,  and  social  disorganization.  I  can  only 
hope  that  the  effect  of  these  lectures,  to  which  you 
have  been  the  listeners,  may  be  the  production  of  a 
healthy  patriotic  pride  in  your  country's  history,  com- 
bined with  a  wider  toleration,  a  broader  sympathy,  and 
a  more  kindly  and  loving  charity  towards  every  member 
of  that  highly  composite  race  which  now  is  called  the 
Irish  people. 


I  N  DEX. 


AHDATIAL  succession  (sec  Reeves), 

349- 
Abbey  of  All  Saints,  180,  351. 

—  Athlone,  248. 

—  Bective,  167. 

—  Cong,  13,  240. 

—  Furness,  202. 

—  Glendalough   (SS.    Peter   and 

I'aul),  217,  222. 
—  (St.  Saviour),  351. 

—  Holy  Cross,  13. 

—  Jerpoint,  84. 

—  Ivnockmoy,  289. 

—  Mellifont,  13,  167,  284. 

—  St.  Mary,  284. 

—  Selsker,  78. 

—  St.  Thomas,  26,  167,  238,  239. 
Abbot,  Archbishop,  259 
Academy,  Royal  Irish,  2,  362. 

—  Proceedings  of,  285,  349. 

—  Transactions  of,  350.  353- 
Adamnau's  (St.)  Cross,  199. 
Admiralty,  Sailing  Directions  of,  70. 

78. 

Adrian  IV.,  Pope,  45-7,  61. 
Affreca,  237.  279. 
Alan,  Archbishop,  185,  186. 
Alexander  III.,  Pope,  216,  226. 
Alleyn,  Di-an.  will  of,  227. 
Almonds,  128,  143. 
Altars,  stone,  215. 
Andrew,  Wm.,  Bishop  of  Meath.  373. 
Anglo-Noiman  Church, character  of. 

373-78- 

—  hostility  to  Celts  of,  376.  378. 
Anglo-Normans,  cruelty  of,  103. 
Annaghdown  diocese,  213. 


Annals  of  Clonmacnois,  2,  9.   20, 
281. 

—  Dudley  Loftus,  114,  223. 
— •  Dudley  MacFirbis,  308,  352. 

—  Four  Masters,  2,  3,  6,  15,  114, 

1.99,  37'- 

—  Friar  Clyn,  308-10. 

--  Lough    Ce,     2,    6,    io,     241, 
281,  360. 

—  Pembridge,  308. 

—  Thady  Dowling,  308,  311. 

Ulster,  2.  3.  6,  7. 

Archceologia.  224. 

'Vrchdall's  Monasticon  Hibernicnm, 

66.  79,  84,  213. 
Archdeacon,  office  of,  31,  252. 

— -  salvability  of.  31. 
Armagh,  Primate  of,  313,  334. 
— •  controversy    with  Dublin  pre- 
lates, 210. 

—  protest  of,  341. 

-  residence  of,  314.  362. 
Armagh  city.  Culdees  at,  358.  359. 

-  Uist.  of,  292. 
Assi/.e  courts.  208. 
Athlone,  9,  n,  243,  245,  248. 

—  abbey  of,  248. 

—  bridge  of.  1 1 . 

—  castle  of.  243.  247,  283. 

—  church  of,  368. 
Atkinson,  Prof.,  2,   17,  77. 
Atlantis,  79. 

Audoen's  (St.)  Arch.  109. 
Augustinians    and    Christ    Church, 
Dublin,  59,  185. 

BACON,  128.  140 


382 


INDEX. 


Bag  and  Bun,  68,  102. 

promontory  of,  99. 

Baldoyle,  lands  of,  118,  181. 

Baldwin,  Archbishop,  272. 

Ball,  Rt.  Hon.  J.  T.,  320. 

Ballinloure,  100. 

Ballymore,  219. 

Baltinglass,  Abbot  of,  376. 

Bannow,  68,  74. 

Banquets,  mediaeval,  143,  144. 

Bargy,  barony  of,  79- 

Barnes,  Rev.  W.,  79. 

Barry,  Robert,  76. 

Basilia,  173. 

Bassett's  Wex.  Dir.,  75,  78. 

Bawn  (Bo-dun), .9,  10. 

Becket,  122. 

Beg- Erin,  116. 

Bells,  sacred,  II,  362. 

Benedict  of  Peterb.,  Chron.  of,  231. 

—  Gesta  of,  208. 
Benefices,  hereditary,  33,  210. 
Bennett,  Rev.  R.,  199 
Berengaria,  Queen,  145. 
Berkeley,  peerage,  58. 
Betham,  Sir  W.,  264. 

Bible  in  Irish,  335. 
Bicknor,   Archbishop  of  Dub..  375. 
Birr,  367. 

Bishops,  Anglo-Norman  in  Wales, 
40. 

—  Irish,    as    English    suffragans, 

3I5- 

—  mediiuval,  200. 
Black  death,  334,  336. 
Blackrock,  100. 
Blinding,  8,  q,  21. 
Bogs,  2H8. 

Book  of  Fenagh,  360-65. 
Glendalough,  2. 

-  Kells,  13.' 

-  Lecan,  371. 

Leinster,  2,  17,  19. 

Boulter,  Primate,  189,  212. 

Boycotting,  meduuval,  262. 

Bramhall,  Primate,  335. 

Braose,  W.  de.  287. 

Brawn  ey.  169. 

P.rehon  law,  329.  338.  366,  372. 

Breifny.  13. 

Brendan,  St.,  54,  74. 

Brewer,  Rev.  J  .  S..  30,  36,  40.  43. 


Brewer,  Rev.  J.  S.,  Man.  Frandsc., 

254,  331- 
Bristol,  cathedral  of,  58,  59. 

—  plan  of,  58. 

Brooking's  Map  of  Dublin,  265. 
Brown,  Archbishop,  197. 
Bruce,  family  of,  324. 

—  wars  of,  Lecture  XIV. 
Brut-y-Tywysogion,  51,  61,  69,  96. 

129,  141,  289. 
Burgh,  Richard  de,  298,  303. 

—  William  de,  238,  336. 

—  and  St.  Thomas's  Abbey,  239. 
Burke,  family  of,  238. 

Butler,  Dean,  De  Cone.  Hib. ,317,321. 
—  Hist,  of  Trim,  166. 

—  Reg.  of  All  Saints,  351. 
Butler,  family  of,  339,  340. 
Butlerabo,  340. 

CAERI.EON,  9. 
Cagework  houses,  107. 
Caillin,  St.,  361-65. 
Camden's  Britannia,  237. 
Campbell,  Ld.,  Lives  of  Ch.  Just,, 

154. 

Canice,  St.  (Cainnech),  143. 
Canons,  secular,  change  of,  196,  270. 
Canterbury,  and  monastic  chapters, 
272. 

—  archbishops  of,  21 1. 

—  controversy  with  York.  211. 
Cantred,  240,  248. 
Carrickfergus,  castle  of,  285. 

church  of,  345. 

Carrickshock,  battle  of,  86. 

Carrig,  castle  of,  92,  116. 

Carroll,    Rev.  W.  G.,  Succession  of 

St.  Bride's  Clergy,  loo. 
Cashel,  bishop-kings  of,  356. 

—  Council  of,  146,    189,   191-94, 

343.  344- 

Castledermot,  178. 
C\;,  Lough,  Atuials  of  (see  Annals). 
Celtic  Church,  Lect.  II.  and   Lect. 

XV. 

—  land  tenures,  329. 

—  school  system,  372,  374. 
CJiartic,  Privilcgia  ct  Imnntnitatcs, 

8.  109,  142. 

Chester,  parliament  at.  157. 
Ch.  Ch.  Cath.  (Canterbury),  74. 


JNDEX. 


383 


Ch.  Ch.  Cath.  (Dublin),  59. 

—  and  James  II.,  59. 
Christian,  Bishop  of  Lismore,   146, 

192. 

Christian  Examiner,  1 86. 
Chronicle,  Ilanmer's,  236. 

—  Iloveden's.  106,  134,  137,  152, 

190,  230. 

—  of  Man,  237,  281. 

—  of  Radulf  de  Diceto.  141. 
-  Welsh.  4.  6r,  96. 

Chronicon  Scotorum,  2,  3,  361. 
Cistercian,  description  of,  42,  43. 

—  in  Ireland,  146. 
Clanricarde,  family  of,  152,  238,  337. 

—  estate  of,  240,  337. 
Clarence,  Duke  of,  337. 

Clark,  G.  T.,  Mcdiccv.  Mtlit.  Archil., 

6,  30,  5s.  63,  135- 
Clement  V.,  Pope,  374. 
Clogrenan,  88. 
Clonmacnois,  346,  350,  366. 
—  Annals  of  (see  Annals). 

—  archdeacon  of,  369. 

—  bishop  of,  248.  367-69. 

—  castle  of,  243,  248,  249. 
Clyn,  Friar,  308. 

Coarbs  of  St.  Columba  (see  Corbes), 

347-5°- 

Cogan,  Miles  de,  113,  117,  119. 
Coinage,  Danish,  52. 
Colby's  On/.  Sun'.  J\fe/>i.  of  Derry, 

34^. 
Colgan,  John,  371. 

--  A  A.  SS.  11  il>.,  145. 
Collegiate  churches,  268.  270. 
Columba,  St.,  346-50,  364,  365. 
Columban  order,  346,  350. 
Comyn,  Archbishop  John,  145,  184, 

2OC-22,  227,  228,  251. 
Conge  d'elire  in  middle  ages,  39. 
Corbes  and  herenachs,  34.  226,  361, 

3^2,  363- 

Cotton's  (Archd.)  Fasti,  314. 
Courcy,  John  de,  152.  236. 

—  appearance  of,  236,  279. 

—  character  of,  236. 

—  Earl  of  Ulster,  277. 
Courts,  archiepiscopal.  220. 
Cranes  as  food,  136,  137. 
Crannog,  6,  285. 

Crcde  Mihi,  MS.,  25,  26,  108,  267. 


Cromabo,  340. 
Crook,  105,  106,  130. 
—  Wright's   mistake    about,    72, 

106,  131.  132. 
Crucifix,  198. 
Crumpe,  H.,  373. 
Cualaun  (Cullen),  prebend  of,    113, 

139,  226. 
Culdees,  353-59. 

-  at  York,  356. 

— •  hereditary  at  Clonmacnois.  358. 

—  in  Scotland,  353. 

-  in  Wales,  33,  353. 
Cullenswood,  113,  226. 
Curragh,  battle  of,  300-03. 

D' ALTON'S  Archlis.  of  Dublin,  215. 
Dame's  Gate,  119. 
Danes,  defeat  of,  14,  15. 

—  modern  fear  of,  188. 
David's.  St.,  see  of,  38,  39. 
Davis,  Sir  John,  329. 
Dccies,  98,  99. 

Deciniie  Saladitiie,  316. 
Deer,  episcopal,  259. 
Delany,  Mrs.,  189. 
Deny,  abbots  of,  346-50,  363. 

bishops  of,  347. 

Dervorgil  (of  lireifny),  20,  21. 

—  (oY  Dublin),  118. 
Diamond,  battle  of,  291. 
Diarmid,  Mael-na-mbo,  19. 

—  Saint,  366. 

Diet.  Christ.  Antiqq.,  352. 
Dinin  river,  88. 

—  legends  of,  88. 
Doiniinis,  title  of,  136. 
Donore,  238. 

Downpatrick,  cathedral  of,  279. 
Doyle's,  Martin,   Notes  and  Glean- 

in^'s,  79. 
Drogheda,  278. 

—  Parliament  at,  338,  340. 

—  University  of,  375. 

Dublin,  archbishops  of.  full  title  of, 
266. 

—  archdeacons  of.  196,  217. 

—  assistant-bishops  of,  214. 

—  capture  of,  112-14. 

—  castle  of,  265.  283. 

--  churches    of:    Christ    Church 
or  Holy  Trinity,  59,  109. 


INDEX. 


Dublin,  churches  of:    St.  Andrew's, 

'35- 

St.  Audoen  s  or  Owen  s, 
109,  1 86. 

—  St.  Bridget's  (Bride), 196, 
197. 
St.  Columba's,  197. 


—  St.  George's,  186. 

—  St.  John's,  196. 

—  St.  Kevin's,  226. 

—  St.  Martin's,  187,  197. 
—  St.  Mary's,  197. 


—  St.  Michael's,  178,  197. 

—  St.  Michael-le-pole,  187. 

-  St.  Michan's,  196,  197. 

—  St.  Nicholas,  345. 

-  St.  Olave's,  186. 

—  St.  Patrick's,  197,  226. 

-  St.  Paul's,  187. 

—  St.  Stephen's,  187. 

—  St.  Werburgh's,  59,  109. 

—  Corporation  of,   contests  with 

archbishop,  219,  220. 

—  county  of,  protests  of,  341. 
History    of    Co.    Dublin,     by 

Dalton,  73. 

—  of  city  of  (Harris),  no. 

—  (Gilbert).  8,  no. 
map  of,  by  Speed,  109. 

—  materials  for  history  of,  108. 

—  Penny  Journal,  13.  246. 
plan,  ancient,  of,  109. 

—  Strand,  battle  of,  119. 

—  synod  of,  86,  215,  376. 

—  University,  origin  of.  374,  375. 

—  winter  climate  of,  138. 
Duff.  Adam,  374. 
Dugdale's  Baronage.  324. 

:-  Orig.Jurid.\  147,  154. 
Duibhregles  of  Derry,  347,  363. 
Duncannon  Fort.  105. 
Dunstan,  St.,  270,  355. 
Durham,  palatinate  of,  157. 
Durrow,  87. 

—  Book  of.  168. 

—  castle  of,  1 68. 

—  monastery  of,  168,  346. 
Dysentery,  Irish.  141.  142. 

EAUMOTH,  53,  54,  55. 
Easter,  346,  352. 
Edan,  Bishop,  181 


Edward,  the  Confessor.  52. 
-I.,  316,  318,  319,  322,  323. 

—  II.,  329. 

—  III.,  330,  331. 

Egypt,  155,  156,  375- 
Electuaries.  129. 

Elizibeth  de  Burgh,  Countess,  337. 
Episcopal  elections  in  middle  ages, 

39,  206,  251. 
Eric,  366. 

Eva,  Princess,  107,  277. 
Evans,  Edward,  no. 
Exeter,  see  of,  229,  256. 
Eyton's  Antiqq.  of  Shrops.,  189. 

FAUGHART,  battle  of,  325. 
Fenagh,  Book  of,  360.  361,  364,  365. 
Ferns,  abbey  of,  66. 

—  castle  of,  65. 
Ferrand,  William,  100. 

Feudal  system  in  Ireland, 150- 54, 233. 

—  Stubbs,  Bp.,  upon,  232. 
Fews  of  Dundalk,  291,  292. 
Finglas,  battle  of,  117. 

—  manor  of,  142. 
Finnian,  St.,  51. 

Fitz-Adam,  Thomas,  260,  261,  262. 
Fitz-Adelm,  William,  130. 
Fitz-Geralds,  origin  of,  28,  95,  96. 

—  strife  with  Butlers,  339,  340. 

-  David,  bishop,  31,  32,  38,  40, 

129. 

Maurice,  298. 

Fitz-IIenry,  Meyler,  242.  255. 
Fitz-Ralph,  (of    Dundalk.)  Primate 

Richard,  334,  335. 
Fitz-Simeon,  Simon,  375. 
Fitz-Simons.  Archbishop,  227. 
Fitz-Stephen,  Robert,  64,  67. 

—  invasion  of,  74. 
Fleet.  Irish  Channel,  304. 
Flemings  in  Wales,  63. 
Fordun.  }..  325. 

Forth,  barony  of,  79. 

Forth,  Dialect  of,  by  Poolo.  79. 

FOKS'S  fudges.  155,  253. 

Four  Masters,  see  Annals  of.2.i  14. 

Fox.  family  of,  169,  170,  277. 

—  O'Cuharny,  169. 
Franciscans,  304. 

— •  as  travellers.  375. 

-  in  Ireland,  331-34.  374,  375- 


INDEX. 


385 


Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  15,  53, 

121. 

Froucle,  Mr.,  233. 

GALE'S  Corporate  System  of  Ireland, 

341- 

Gallows,  episcopal,  220. 
Gahi<ay,  History  of(\  lardiman),  213. 

—  tribes  of,  344,  345. 

—  warden  of,  213. 
Games  of  Middle  Ages,  164. 
Garrycastle,  barony  of,  367. 
Gelasius,  Primate,  10,  144,  145. 
Gerald,  of  Windsor,  28,  96. 
Gilbert  (J.  T.),   Acct.   of  Facsimiles 

Nat.  MSS.,  2,  13,  17,  372. 

—  Chartul.   Marys  Abbey,  8,  15, 

85,  114,  118. 

—  Hist,  of  Dublin,  8,  HO,  135. 

—  Mimic.  Docc.,  142. 
-  Viceroys,  151. 

Giles'  Life  of  Becket,  207. 
Gillernoholmocs,  85,  iiS. 
Gillpatrick  (Fitzpatrick),  King  of 

Ossory,  80,  83,  84. 
Giraldus  Cambrensis,  Lect.  II. 

—  birth  of.  27. 

—  education  of,  30,  31. 

—  election  to  St.  David's,  38-42. 
excommunication  of  a  bishop 

by,  36- 

- — -  family  of,  27,  28. 

—  hostility  to  Cistercians,  42. 

—  journey  to  Rome,  41. 

—  sermors  of.  145,  376. 

works  of  :   Conquest  of  Ireland, 

45,  72,   100-6,  116,  123,    137, 

I5I- 

De  Rebus  a  se  Gestis,  34. 

—  Description  of  Walts,  27, 

34- 

-  Itinerary,  30.  33. 

-  Topography,  44,  142,  145. 
Glanville,  Earth,  de,  127. 

—  Ranulf  do.  127,  147. 
Glasscarrig,  65. 
Glencullen.  85.  260. 
Glendalough,  178,  184,  195.  350. 

-  abbots  of,  1/8.  216.  218. 

—  archdeacons  of,  252. 

-  bishops  of,  214,  263. 
estates  of,  264. 


Glendalough,    union   with    Dublin, 

217,  263. 
Glenmalure,  67. 
Godwinc,  Earl,  52. 
Gothred  of  Man,  115. 
Grace,  family  of,  98,  188,  285. 
Graigenemanagh,  13. 
Graves,  Rev.  J.,  14,  74,  130. 
Greek  at  Glendalough,  178. 
Gregory  IX.,  Pope,  262. 

HACO,  King,  281. 

Hall's   Picturesque  Ireland,  67,  70, 

74,  75,  78. 

Ilanmer,  J.,  IO2,  236. 
Hardiman's  Hist,  of  Galway,  213. 

-  Mat.  of  KM:,  328,  337,  338. 
Harding,  Robert,  56. 

—  descendants  of,  56,  57,  58. 
Hardy,  Sir  T.  D.,  255. 
Harold,  Earl,  at  Dublin,  52. 
Harold's  Cross,  220. 

Harris's   (W. )   Hibernica,   79,    100, 
116,  nS. 

—  Hist,  of  Dublin,  no. 
Heimessy  (W.  M.),  2,  360. 
Henry  I.,  28. 

Henry  II.,  I,  74.  98. 

—  arrival  in  Dublin  of,  134-49. 
character  of  reign.  121-26. 

—  Church  organization  of,  144. 

—  departure  for  Ireland,  129,  130. 

—  from  Ireland,  149. 

—  dress  of.  143. 

—  edict  of,  123. 

—  estimate  of  bishops,  200,  201. 

—  legal  organization  of,  147,  148. 
—  motives    for    conquest    of   Ire- 
land, 125. 

—  palace  at  Dublin,  135,  136. 

—  preparations  for  conquest.  126- 

29. 

—  social  improvements  of,  148. 

—  statute  of.  148. 

—  submission  of  Irish  princes  to, 

134- 
Henry  III.,  236. 

—  favourites  of,  296. 
letters  of,  261,  262. 

-  Troubles  of,  Lect.  XII. 
Henry  of  London.  Archbishop,  Lect. 

XI..  249. 


386 


INDEX. 


Henry  as  a  judge,  254. 

—  of    London    as    a    sportsman, 

259-62. 
as    Archdeacon    of     Stafford, 

254,  271. 
career  of,  252-74. 

—  election  of,  251. 

—  title  of  Scorch- Villein,  264. 
Heraclius,  Patriarch.  224. 
Heretics,  Irish.  374. 

Holy  Cross  Abbey  (sec  Abbeys). 
Hook's  (Dean)  ArchbisJiops  of  Cant., 

207. 

Hore,  H.  F.,  86. 
Horses,  Irish.  133.  134. 
Hospitallers.  Knights,  246. 
Hothom,  329. 
Hounds,  episcopal,  259. 
Households,  episcopal,  144. 
Iloveden.   Roger  de,  Chronica  {see 

Chronicle). 
Howard's   Hist,   of  Irish   Excheq., 

152. 

Howth,  Earl  of,  236. 
Hugh  the  Illuminator,  375. 

INNIS-CLERAUN,  350.  366. 

Innis-Loughlan,  Fort  of,  6. 

Innis-Muny,  350. 

Innocent  III..  Pope,  217. 

Inspeximus,  195,  217. 

lona,  346,  348,  349,  350. 

Irene,  Empress,  8. 

Irish  Archicological  Miscell.,  6,  13, 

14 

Irishtown.  221. 
Isabella,  daughter  of  Princess   Eva, 

294.  3°5- 
Isles,    bishopric    of    (Glendalough), 

2IO. 

JESUS,  staff  of,  21. 

Joanna,  Queen,  281. 

Joceline,  279. 

John  XXII.,  Pope,  324. 

John  de  dray,  liishop  of  Norwich, 

9-  242-50. 

John,  King,  in  Ireland,  242. 
John,    Prince,     charters    to    Dublin 

archbishop,  217,  219. 
--  in    Ireland,   163.  21}.  217. 
John  of  Salisbury,  /:/>/.,  31. 


Joly's  (Rev.  J.  S.)  Bridge  of  Athlone, 
10. 

Our  Church  Bell,  10. 

Journal.  Atlantis.  79. 

—  Dublin  Penny,  14.  74. 

—  Irish  Penny,  367. 

Kilk.  Archtcol.,  14,  74,  79,  82, 

86.  97,  99,  102,  130.  369. 

Roy.  Arch,  and  Hist.  So:,  of 

Ireland,  113. 

—  Ulster  Archceol.,  277,285,  292. 
Judges,  itinerant,  208,  254. 
Justice,   Lord  Chief,   office  of,   154, 

MS; 

Justiciaries,  152,  154. 

—  origin  of,  154. 
Juxon,  Bishop,  259. 

KAVANAGH,  Donall,  75-85.  113. 
Keating's  Hist,  of  Ireland,  4,  180. 
Keller's  Lake  Dwellings,  285. 
Kells,  glebe  land  of,  84. 

—  Synod  of.  177,  ito. 
Kieran,  St..  346.  366. 
Kildare.  war  of,  297,  306. 

—  authorities  for,  305. 
Kilkea  Castle,  166. 

Kilkenny  Castle,  records  at.  171. 
Kilkenny,  Statute  of ,  337-39,  377. 
Kilmore.  castle  of,  287. 

—  diocese  of,  285. 
Kilronan,  362. 
King-Hannan.  Col.,  3. 

King  (\V.),  Archbishop,  212,  265. 
King's  (Rev.  R.)  Ch.  Hist.,  325. 
Kinsale,  72. 
Kinsaley,  parish  of,  73- 
Kinsellagh,  mistake  about,  72,  73. 

—  tribe  of,  73,  131. 
Kyteler,  Dame  Alice.  374. 

LACROIX'S  Manners  of  Middle  Ags, 

137,    141,  143,  144. 
Lacy,  Hugh  de.  sen.,  159-70. 

—  appearance  of.  165. 

—  castle  of,  1 66,  234. 

—  charter  to.  151. 

—  death  of,  169. 

—  marriage    of,     159,     161,     I  "6, 

1 68. 

—  sons  of,  235. 

Lacy,  Hugh  de,  jun.,  277,  279. 


INDEX. 


387 


Lacy,  Hugh  de,  jun.,  rebellion  of,    ;    Lynch's  Legal  Institutions,  151. 

280  93. 
triumph  of,  292,  293. 


Laindon,  31  S- 

Lambeth  Palace,  origin  of,  272. 

Lamlash.  281. 

Larne,  235. 

Lateran  Council.  190.  260. 

La  Touche  (Dr.  J.  J.  ),  Report  of,  26, 

39.  73- 

Laurence  (Sir  Almeric  de  St.),  236. 
Leabhar  Breac  (Speckled  Book),  272. 
Lecan,  Hook  of,  371. 

-  Ye  I  loin  Book  of,  372. 
Leech,  Archb.  of  Dublin,  374. 
Leia,  Peter  de,  Bishop,  32,  40. 
Leighlin  Bridge,  88,  161. 

-  Black  Castle  of.  88. 
Leighlin,  Old,  88. 

—  cathedral  of.  88,  89. 
Leinster.  ancient  extent  of.  14. 

—  Book  of,  2,  178. 

—  Mount,  65.  88. 

I/eland's  Hist,  of  Ireland,  321,  329, 

341- 
Leo  X.,  Pope,  378. 

—  excludes    Celtic     clergy    from 
St.  Patrick's,  379. 

Leperstown    (Leopardstown),    100, 

101. 

Leprosy  in  Ireland,  100,  101. 
Lit't-r  A/bus  of  Christ  Church.  25. 

2.6. 

Liter  Ni^er  Alani,  25,  26,  108,  142, 
179. 

—  of  Christ  Church,  25. 
Liberties  of  Dublin.  238,  239. 
Lindsay's  Coinage  of  Ireland.  52. 
Lionel.  Duke  of  Clarence,  337,  338. 
Llewellyn,  Prince.  236,  287,289,297. 
Loftus.  Dudley,  114.  314.  378. 

-  Annals  of,  114,  153. 

—  career  uf.  153. 

—  edits  Syriac  liturgies.  153. 
Loftus,  Sir  Adam,  252. 

Lord  Lieutenants,  origin  of,  152. 

—  succession  of,  162. 


Luke,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  8,  218, 


MAcCoGHl.AN,  Bishop  of  Clonmac- 

nois,  367-69. 
—  family  of,  367-69. 
MacFirbis,  family  of.  371-73. 
MacGilmoholmock,  8,  85,  i»8. 
MacMurrough,  Dermot,  2. 

—  ability  of,  107. 

—  birth  of,  20. 

—  character  of.  20-3,  91. 

—  charter  of,  181. 

—  death  of,  1 14. 

—  eldest  son  of.  84,  85,    182. 

—  escape  of,  48. 

—  favourite  son  of,  75- 
grave  of,  66. 

—  invades  Ossory,  80-9. 

—  letter  to  Strongbow,  94. 

—  murder  of  father  of,  1 12. 
returns  to  Ireland,  65. 

visits  Henry  II  ,  60-2. 


Madox,  Hist,  of  Exchcq. .  127,  154. 
Magnus  of  Denmark,  96. 
Malachy,  St.,  361. 
Malone.  family  of.  360. 
Manorbeer,  castle  of.  29. 
Mant's  (Bishop)  (  h.  Hist.,  315. 
Manx  Church,  203,  370. 
Marisco,  Geoffrey  de,  75,   228,  297- 

306. 
Marquardt's  Rom.  Staatsverwaltung, 

156. 
Marquardt   and    Mommsen's    Rom. 

Alterth.,  156. 

Marriage  (of  clergy,  32-4,  361-63. 
Marsh's  (Archbp.)  Library,  179,  259, 

Marshall    (Mareschal)    family,    293, 

295- 
property  of,  306. 

—  Richard,    Karl    of    Pembroke, 

296. 

—  Welsh  war  of,  297. 

—  his  war  of  Kildare,  297- 

306. 

—  Wm.,  sen.,  Larl  of  Pembroke, 

150,  277.  294. 

—  marriage  of,  294. 

—  Win.,  jun.,  Larl  of  Pembroke, 

281,  283,  284,  295.  ^ 
campaign  in  Ireland,  284. 


INDEX. 


Mason's  Hist,  of  St.  Patrick's,  223, 

226,  272. 

Matilda,  Empress,  6l. 
Mayo,  Earls  of,  337. 
Meath  and  Kildare,  wars  of,  Lect. 

XII. 
Meath,  diocese  of,  160. 

—  palatinate  of,  159,  160. 
Mercer's  Hospital,  loo. 
Michael  of  Kildare,  Friar,  333. 
Mills,  Mr.  J.,  179,  186,  226,  264. 
Minstrels,  338. 

Mommsen's  Roman  Provinces,  trans. 

by  Dickson,  156. 
Monasteries,  Anglo-Saxon,  351. 

—  Celtic,  350,  351. 
Monastic  chapters,  270,  272. 
Monasticon  Jfibernicnj/1   (see  Arch- 

dall). 

Morison,  Fynes,  6. 
Morrin's  Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  359,  368. 
Mountmaurice,  Hervey  de,  74. 
Munch 's  Norske  Folks  Historic,  281. 
Mynchin  fields,  HO. 

NASMYTH,  James,  375. 

Nesta,  28. 

Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  4. 

Nicholas,  Saint,  dedications  to,  345. 

Nicholas  the  chaplain,  145. 

Nicholls   and  Taylor's  Bristol  Past 

and  Present,  54,  55.  57,  59- 
Nonant,  Hugh  de,  271. 
Norhury,  Earl  of,  170. 
Norway,  King  of,  and  Ireland,  281. 

O'BRIAN,  dynasty  of,  5. 
O'Brollaghan,  Flaherty,    Bishop   of 

Derry,  347. 
O'Conor,  family  of,  5. 

Catlial,  240,  281. 

• Hugh,  289,  290. 

Phelim,  365. 

—  Roderick,  22,82,  lie;,  194,  240. 

—  attacks  Dublin,  115. 

—  invades  Leinster,  90. 
e,  286,  2<S8. 


O  Curry,  Lcctt.,  2,  3,  17,  37-5 


O'Donnel,  family  of,  346. 
O'Donovan,    Dr.    John,  3,    14,  79, 
289. 

Ord.  Surv.  Lett.,  245,  362. 

—  Pref.  Ann.  Four  blasters,  371. 
-  Topog.  Poems,  285.  310. 

O'Flaherty's  Ogygia,  75. 
O'Hanlon,  Rev.  J..  191. 
O'Loughlin,  Donnall,  3,  4. 
O'Naghten,  sept  of,  358. 
O'Neill,  Shane,  328. 
O'Neills,  the,  134,  363. 

—  and  Ulster,  291. 
O'Phelan,  99,  106. 
Orange  Society.  291. 

Ord.   ^urv.   Corresp.   in   R.  I.  A., 

65.  66,  89  99. 
O'Reilly,  country  of,  285. 

—  tribe  of,  2^5,  288. 
Ormerod's  Cheshire.  157. 
Ormond.  Earl  of.  339,  341. 
O'Roddy,  family  of,  361.  362,  366. 
O'Rourke,  Tiernan,  12,  20. 

death  of,  161. 

O'Ryan.  99. 

Ossory.  bishop  of.  377. 

kingdom  of,  82,  83. 

O'Toole,  St.  Laurence,  113.  116. 

—  attends  Eat.  Counc..  190. 
career  of,  Lect.  VIII. 

—  charter  of,  153. 
Lives  of,  177,  187. 

—  palace  of,  113.  114,  178,  179. 
O'Tooles.  374. 

Oughter.  Lough,  286. 
Outlaw.  William.  374. 
Overton's  Life  in  Eng.  Ch.,  259. 

PALATINATES,  157,  276. 

Pale,  meaning  of.  328. 

Palgrave,     Sir    E.,     136,   254,  271, 

272. 

Pallium,  210. 
Parchment,  144. 
Parliament,  Irish,  312,  319-21. 

—  of  Wales,  157. 
Parsonstown,  367. 
Pass  of  Plumes,  87. 
Patrick's,  St.,  cathedral  of,  221. 

—  as  a  collegiate  church,  222. 
as  a  university,  375. 

—  consecration  of,  222. 


INDEX. 


389 


Patrick's,  St.,  precedence  of  canons 
in,  273. 

—  origin  of,  222. 

Paris,  Matthew,  Chron.  Maj.,  256, 
257,  289. 

-  Hist.  Angl.,  249,  257,  288. 
Peerages,  palatine,  158,  167. 
Penkridge,  deanery  of,  265. 
Peter  des  Roches,  Bishop  of  Winch., 

296,  297,  298. 
Petrie,  Dr.,  184. 
Life,  by  W.  Stokes,  M.D.,  6, 

13,  5'.  184. 
Petronilla,  374. 
Phoenix  Park,  260. 
Photius,  17. 
Pilgrim,  The,  379. 
Pinkerton,  John,  354. 
Pipe  Roll  Society,  62. 

accounts,  124. 

Poaching,  mcdiceval.  261. 

Poddle,  river,  I  To,  140. 

Policy,    Want   of   continuous  Irish, 

162.  164,  165. 
Portionist  rectors,  35. 
Powers,  family  of,  310. 
Poynings,  Sir  Edward,  339-42. 
Precedents  of  Armagh,  314. 
Prefects,  Augustal,   of  Egypt,    155, 

156. 
Prendergast,  Maurice  de,  80,  88. 

—  quarrel  with  Dermot,  91-3. 
Princes,  Irish,  loyalty  of,  282. 
Princesses,  Irish,  and  foreign  nobles, 

96,  161. 

Prynne's  Records,  229. 
Pue's  Occurrences,  247. 

RANDON  (Randown),  castle  of,  243, 
245.  246. 

—  description  of,  246. 
Raphoe  Cathedral,  199. 
Raymond  le  Gros,  98,  124,  173,  iSS. 
Record  Comm.    Report,  A.u.    1810- 

15,  26. 

Record  system,  English,  258. 
Ree.  Lough,  description  of.  243-45. 
Reeves,  Bishop,  350,  353-59. 

—  Adamnari's  (.  olumba,  349. 

— Antiqq.  of  l}o~;<n  and  Connor, 
101,  279,  316,  317. 

—  Gallon's  I'isit.,  362,  363. 


Reeves,  Bishop,    Diocese  of  Dublin 
and  Glendalough,  14,  1 80,  209. 
—  on  Abbatial  Succession,  349. 
on  the  Culdees.  350,  353-59. 

—  on  Townland  Distribution,  240. 
Refert  Church,  177. 

Regan,  Maurice,  2,  21. 

poem  of,   25,    55,   72,  77,  98, 

TOO,  102,  106,  113. 
Reginald's  Tower,  106. 
Register  of  All  Saints,   ed.   Butler, 
118.  184. 

—  of  Malmesbury,  228. 

—  of  St.  Thomas's  Abbey.  25,  26. 
Reid's  Hist.  Presb.  Church,  353. 
Renzi,  Sir  Matt.  de.  368. 
Repertorimn    Viride,  26,    100,    114, 

185,  1 86,  226. 

Report  of  Church  (Irish)  Comm., 
1868,  263. 

of  Mimic.  Corp.  Comm.  of 

Dublin,  1835.  224. 

of  Record  Comm.,  26. 

Retrospective  Review,  375. 

Rhymers.  338. 

Rhys,  Prince  of  S.  Wales,  141. 

Ricart's  Kalendar,  59. 

Richey's  Short  History,  115,  137. 

Robertson's  (J.  G.)  Antiqq.  of  Kil- 
kenny, 84. 

Roche  family,  legend  of.  78. 

Rogers's  (Thor.)  Six  Cent,  of  Work, 
127. 

Roses.  Wars  of,  Lect.  XIV.,  312, 

-  Irish  nobles  in,  339. 
Ross,  walling  of,  305. 
Rott.  Charli. ,  8. 

—  Curitf   Regis,    136,    254,    271, 

272. 

-  Lilt.  Patent.,  255. 
Royal  supremacy,  200,  313,  317. 
Ryan's  Carlow.  166. 
Rymer's  J-iiilcra,  136,  262. 

SARUM,  Use  of.  197. 
Saviour,  St.,  Priory  of,  351. 
Schools.  Celtic,  372,  374. 
Scotland.  A'eiu  Stat.  Acct.  of,  349. 
Scutnge,   126,   127. 
Seam,  as  a  measure,  133- 
Seebohm's  Village  Communities,  14. 
Selden's  Office  of  Chanc.,  154. 


39° 


INDEX. 


Selden's  Titles  of  Honour,  157. 

Sepulchre,  St.,  Church  of  (Cam- 
bridge), 224. 

— —  Manor  of,  113,  139.220,224, 
225,  238. 

—  Palace  of,  223,  224. 
Seyer's  Memorials  of  Bristol,  58. 
Shaen,  Sir  J.,  247. 

Shane  Castle,  4. 

Shirley's  7'errit.  of  Farney,  286. 

Simnel,  Lambert,  340. 

Sitric.  of  Dublin,  195. 

of  Man,  96. 

of  Waterford,  106. 

Skelton.  Rev.  P.,  15. 
Slavery  in  Ireland.  181. 
Slieve  Gullion.  291. 

-  Margy,  86.  88. 
Smith,  Robert,  88. 

Smith's  Waterford  (see  Waterford). 
Sodor  and  Man.  see  of,  348,  349. 
Staff  of  Jesus,  21,  33,  198. 

-  of  St.  Cyric,  33. 
Stillorgan,  100. 

Stores  in  Ireland,  military,  283. 
Striguil,  Castle  of,  97. 
Strongbow,  birth  of.  96. 

—  burial  of.  172. 

capture  of  Dublin.  113. 

-  character  of,  62,  63. 
charters  of,  97,  114,  122,  123. 

—  dominion  of,  150. 
invasion  of,  105. 


—  Lord  Lieutenant.  170-74. 

—  marriage  of,  107. 
Stuart's  Hist,  of  Armagh,  292. 
Stubbs,   Bishop.    Constit.   Hist..  20. 

29,  38,  121.  127. 

—  Lectures  on  Med.  Hist..  253. 

—  I\Iem.  of  St.  ])imstan,  355. 
preface   to   Bt'iiediet   of  Peter- 
borough. 232. 

Sweetman's   (U.S.)    Calendars,   26. 

124.  137.  140.  143,  152. 
Swift,  Dean,  375. 
Swinfiekl,    Bishop,    Household  Roll 

"f-  1.33-  '3.7-  141-  H3- 
Synods,  meduuval.  211.  376.  377. 
Systems,   Irish    J^c^islative.    by  Dr. 

.Ball,  320. 

TANISTRY.  1 15.  329. 


Taxation,  clerical,  316,  371. 
Templars,  Knights,  131,  299. 
Temple  Church.  224. 
Templemore,  348. 
Termonfeckin,  363. 
Theiner's    Vet.  Man.,  46,  258,  374, 

377,  378. 

Thomas- Court,  238. 
Tintern  Abbey,  74. 
Tipperary,  Palatinate  of,  158. 
Tirbrun,  314. 
Tithes,  division  of,  369,  370. 

—  introduction  of.  146. 
Tonsure,  346.  352. 
Towns,  Irish.  304. 

—  League  of,  304. 
Transubstantiation,  373. 
Travers,    Robert,   Bp.    of    Killaloe, 

3H-. 

Trees  in  churchyards,  142,  143. 
Trench.  Archbishop,  154. 
Tricycling  in  Ireland.  8 1.  105. 
Trim,  JJist.of,  ed.  Uu'ler,  166. 

—  castle  of,  234,  284. 
Tuathas,  309. 

Turkil,    family   of,    15,    16,   73,    113, 
118,  195. 

UAREIRGHE-O'NAGHTEN,  358. 

Ulidia,  291. 

Ulster,  character  of,  235. 
conquest  by  De  Courcy,  237. 

—  description    of    in    1586,    292, 

328. 

—  earldom  of,  237,  277/337. 
extent  of,  291. 

—  kingdom  of,  235. 
Ultonia,  291. 

Uniat  Greeks,  179. 

Union  parliament  and  Edward  III., 

341- 
University  of  Dublin.  374,  375. 

—  of  Paris,  31. 

Ussher,  An/it/,/,  of  Brit.  Ch.,  358. 

—  on   Corbcs  and   llerenachs,  34, 

226. 
A\-l.  of  Anc.  Irish,  179,  373. 


VAI.I.ANCY.  General,  79. 
Visitations,  abbatial,  347,  364. 


INDEX. 


391 


Visitations,  episcopal,  347,  362,  363. 

WALES,    connexion    with     Ireland, 
49-62. 

—  Irish  clergy  in,  49. 
Wallop,  Sir  II.,  194. 

Walsh.    Rev.    R.,     Fingal  and   its 

Churches,  49. 
Walsh,  Right  Hon.  J.   E.,   If  eland 

Sixty  Years  Ago,  89. 
Walter   of  Coventry,  Memorials  of, 

208. 

Warbeck,  Perkin,  340. 
Ward,  Pishop  Sell),  259. 
Ware,  Sir  James,  371,  372. 

—  A  n£i :/</.,  214. 

—  Bishops,  79. 
Waterforcl,  capture  of,  106. 

—  Hist,  of,  ed.  Smith,  99,  101. 

—  wine  at,  133. 
Wattle  work,  Irish,  135. 
Wax,  128,  144. 

Welsh  Church,  Lect.  II. 

-  resemblance  to  Irish,  33,  34,  51. 
Welsh  princes  in  Ireland,  51. 
Wesley.  John,  332. 
Wexford,  abbey  of  (Selsker),  78. 


Wcxford,  castle  of,  75. 

—  Directory  of  (Passett's),  75,  78, 

79- 
— •  grant  of,  64. 

medieval  trade  of,  7.8. 

—  siege  of,  75-80. 

Stat.  Survey  of,  79. 

topography  of,  75. 

walls  of,  76. 

Whately,  Archbp.,  225. 
Wilde,   Sir  W.,   idealities  of  Boyne 
and  Blackwater,  166. 

on  Crannogs,  285. 

— — •  Report  on   Irish  Diseases    and 

Deaths,  ici,  141. 
Wilkins'     Concilia,     79,     143,    192, 

267. 
William  of  Newburgh,  Hist,  of,   196, 

200-4,  224- 

William  the  Conqueror,  52,  53. 
Wimund,  Bishop  of  Man,  201-4. 
Winchester,  see  of,  128. 
Wogan,  Sir  John,  319,  320,  322. 
Woods  in  ancient  Leinster,  86. 
York,  Cathedral  of,  356. 

—  St.  Leonard's  at.  356. 
St.  Peter's  at,  356. 


